The United Kingdom and the European Union are negotiating to accelerate arms supplies to Ukraine ahead of a possible complete ceasefire, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Bloomberg shortly before Vladimir Putin agreed to a limited truce, UNN writes.
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David Lammy said he discussed the possibility of sending more military support to Ukraine before any broad cessation of hostilities is implemented at a meeting in London with EU chief diplomat Kaya Kallas on Tuesday. According to him, this issue was also raised at a meeting of the G7 foreign ministers in Canada last week.
Of course it’s our intention to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position militarily and economically. We want peace to prevail but we get peace through strength and that means putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position to repel any prospects of the war beginning again
Putin and Trump reached an agreement on Tuesday to limit Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy assets for 30 days, but Putin refused to agree to a broader ceasefire sought by the United States. They agreed to immediately begin negotiations on a ceasefire at sea - in the Black Sea, as well as on a "complete ceasefire and lasting peace", the White House said after the call ended.
The Kremlin's report on the conversation with Trump says that Putin put forward several conditions for a lasting ceasefire, including the suspension of arms supplies and intelligence support to Ukraine. The Kremlin said that Ukraine should also stop mobilization and that "a key condition for preventing the escalation of the conflict and working towards its resolution through political and diplomatic means should be the complete cessation of foreign military assistance and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv".
Shortly before reports of the conversation, Lammy called on Russia to agree to an "unconditional ceasefire" and warned that Putin should not be allowed to use the truce to rearm the army until a lasting peace settlement is reached. The United Kingdom and other European allies of Ukraine are concerned that Russia will reject a peace agreement and use the ceasefire period to rearm and further attack Ukraine, the publication points out.
"We want a cessation of all hostilities, not a period when Putin can rearm and leave again," Lammy said. - No "ifs", no "buts", no conditions: Putin could simply announce an unconditional ceasefire based on what was agreed between the US, with our help, and the Ukrainians last week, and we could start a proper peace process in Ukraine".