Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin has to come to table ‘sooner or later’, Starmer says as he warns ‘not to play games’

Sir Keir Starmer has urged world leaders to keep pressure on Putin during his virtual summit on Saturday.

The prime minister told his counterparts they could not “sit back and simply wait” for a ceasefire, adding: “We have to keep pushing ahead, pushing forward and preparing for peace, and a peace that will be secure and that will last.”

Sir Keir Starmer has condemned Russia’s “barbaric attacks on Ukraine”, saying Vladimir Putin must “agree to a ceasefire”.

He said at the top of the meeting: “President Zelensky, who’s with us this morning, has shown once again that Ukraine is the party of peace, because he has agreed to and committed to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.

“Now what we see, and this is centrepiece for our discussions today, is that Putin is the one trying to delay.

“In a sense, and you will know this, if Putin is serious about peace, it’s very simple, he has to stop his barbaric attacks on Ukraine and agree to a ceasefire.”

Sir Keir Starmer, French president Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte have addressed the virtual “coalition of the willing” meeting, a Government source has said.

Sir Keir Starmer continued: “Secondly, being prepared to defend any deal ourselves through a coalition of the willing. We’ve begun that process and this morning we can take it forward.

“And then, thirdly, and really importantly, given the developments of the last few days, to keep the pressure on Putin to come to the table, and I think collectively we’ve got a number of ways that we can do that.

“So it’s those three heads, really, that we’re going to focus on in this meeting, strengthening Ukraine, being prepared to defend any deal ourselves through a coalition of the willing, and keeping that pressure on Russia at this crucial time.”

We have some more detail on Sir Keir Starmer’s latest comments on Putin and Ukraine.

Speaking in Downing Street ahead of a video call with world leaders, he said the “world is watching”.

The Prime Minister went on: “My feeling is that sooner or later (Mr Putin’s) going to have to come to the table and engage in serious discussion, but – and this is a big but for us this morning in our meeting – we can’t sit back and simply wait for that to happen.

“We have to keep pushing ahead, pushing forward, and preparing for peace, and a peace that will be secure and that will last.

“I think that means strengthening Ukraine so they can defend themselves, and strengthening, obviously, in terms of military capability, in terms of funding, in terms of the provision of further support from all of us to Ukraine.”

Around 25 countries are set to join a meeting hosted by Sir Keir Starmer to discuss a peacekeeping force for Ukraine.

World leaders from countries including Britain, France, Australia and Canada will virtually meet on Saturday – but it is still unclear if one leader, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, will join.

The Italian prime minister has been critical of proposals to send troops to Ukraine to enforce any peace deal made with Russia.

Reports earlier this week suggested she would shun Saturday’s meeting of the ‘coalition of the willing’, with sources telling The Telegraph that she is “not convinced” by the plans.

Ahead of the meeting on Saturday Giangiacomo Calovini, an MP from the ruling party in Italy, was unable to say whether she would take part in Saturday’s call.

We will update you as soon as we know whether Ms Meloni will be taking part in the morning.

Russian troops have recaptured the villages of Rubanshchina and Zaoleshenka in its western Kursk region, the Defence Ministry said on Saturday.

Russia has accelerated a push to drive Ukrainian forces out of Kursk, where they took control of about 100 settlements in a surprise incursion into Russian territory last August.