Each leader presented their arguments, hoping without much belief for a gesture from Vladimir Putin. Volodymyr Zelensky and the four European leaders who visited him in Kyiv on Saturday, May 10, on the banks of the Dnipro – French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk – urged the Russian president leader to accept an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, which could begin as early as Monday, May 12, on land, at sea and in the air.

The offer was made following a summit of the "coalition of the willing," with remote participation from about 20 heads of state and government most mobilized in support of Kyiv. Zelensky and his visitors, leaning over a coffee table, called the American president, Donald Trump, for about 10 minutes before making their announcement. "All of us here, together with the US, are calling Putin out. If he's serious about peace, then he has the chance to show it," said Starmer during a press conference with his counterparts in the garden of the Ukrainian Presidential Palace.

You have 81.87% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.