European leaders join Ukraine's call for ceasefire with Russia

European leaders called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to an immediate and complete ceasefire that allows talks to begin on a lasting peace deal.

Britain, Germany and France made the intervention after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at 10 Downing Street in London hosted by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, where they discussed the conditions to end the war.

The joint statement came after Putin rejected a ceasefire proposal by Ukraine last week and an escalation in military action over the weekend. Ukraine accused Moscow's forces of striking a spent nuclear fuel storage facility near Chernobyl, while Russia said a bridge that allows access to the Crimean peninsula was damaged.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz joined Starmer in condemning Russia's missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and drone incursions into NATO territory. They committed to stand firmly with Ukraine.

Any deal with Putin would require Russia to meet five demands, the report of the meeting said. Those include:

• A stop to the fighting.

• Negotiations would start at the current line of contact and that international borders should not be changed by force.

• Ukraine should have security guarantees including the deployment of a multinational force.

• Hundreds of billions of dollars of Russian assets would remain frozen until Russia compensates Ukraine for the damage caused by the war.

• European interests are safeguarded.

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This story was originally published June 7, 2026 at 6:37 PM.