LONDON, March 15. /TASS/. An online meeting on the situation in Ukraine with the participation of leaders of about 25 Western countries has kicked off, according to the video distributed by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office.
It was he who organized this summit as a follow-up to a meeting two weeks ago. On March 2, Starmer gathered mostly European leaders in London to discuss aid to Kiev in the face of declining support from the United States.
In his speech, Starmer cited three main goals for today's meeting: "to strengthen Ukraine, to be prepared to defend any deal ourselves through a ‘coalition of the willing,’ and to keep that pressure on Russia at this crucial time."
The full list of participants in the meeting was not disclosed. According to the office, the online meeting includes EU leaders, representatives of the European Commission, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Ukraine. It is emphasized that Starmer will call on his colleagues to make concrete commitments to implement US President Donald Trump's peace plan, as well as to continue providing military assistance to Kiev.
On March 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference after talks with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko that Moscow agrees with proposals to stop hostilities in Ukraine, but only on condition that they lead to long-term peace and eliminate the root causes of the crisis.