"Ukraine and all allies are ready for a full unconditional ceasefire on land, air, and at sea for at least 30 days starting already on Monday," Ukraine's foreign minister, Andriy Sybiga, said in a post on X.

The leaders of France, Britain, Germany and Poland visited Kyiv on Saturday for talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky. In a joint statement, they said they were "ready to support peace talks as soon as possible" and pledged to keep increasing pressure on Moscow.

"Alongside the US, we call on Russia to agree a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire to create the space for talks on a just and lasting peace," the leaders said.

They warned: "We will continue to increase our support for Ukraine. Until Russia agrees to an enduring ceasefire, we will ratchet up pressure on Russia's war machine."

After the meeting in Kyiv, the five leaders held a joint phone call with US President Donald Trump. “Following the Coalition of the Willing meeting in Kyiv, all five leaders had a fruitful call with (Trump) focused on peace efforts,” Sybiga said.

The Kremlin has given no indication it is prepared to halt its invasion. Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected a 30-day truce proposed by Washington and Kyiv in March, instead announcing two short pauses in fighting that Ukraine says Moscow violated.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov repeated Russia’s demand for an end to Western arms shipments to Kyiv before any truce.

A ceasefire would otherwise be “an advantage for Ukraine” at a time when “Russian troops are advancing... in quite a confident way” on the front, he told ABC News. He added that Ukraine was “not ready for immediate negotiations.”

Russia currently occupies around a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014. Fighting has intensified this spring.

Macron, German chancellor Friedrich Merz, British prime minister Keir Starmer and Polish prime minister Donald Tusk travelled to Kyiv by train from Poland. It was their first joint visit to Ukraine. For Merz, in office only a week, it marked his first trip as chancellor.

The four were seen embracing Zelensky and placing lanterns at a memorial to fallen soldiers in central Kyiv. Macron had last visited in June 2022, when he arrived with the Italian and German leaders of the time.

“We are clear the bloodshed must end. Russia must stop its illegal invasion,” the leaders said.

Macron said on the way to Kyiv that direct talks between Ukraine and Russia could follow once a ceasefire takes hold. Zelensky has said negotiations with Moscow would only be possible after a halt in hostilities.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen posted on X that a truce must come “without pre-conditions” and only then could negotiations begin.

Russia has warned it will not accept any Western military presence in Ukraine after the war and said proposals for a postwar European security force could trigger conflict with NATO.

The Kyiv meeting included plans to brief other European leaders on creating such a force to support Ukraine’s military after any deal.

The show of European unity came a day after Putin delivered a defiant speech at a military parade in Moscow marking 80 years since Soviet victory in World War II.

Putin had ordered a unilateral three-day ceasefire from Thursday to Saturday, but Ukrainian forces said the fighting continued unabated. “Pretty much the same,” one brigade in the east told AFP.

After meeting Tusk in Paris on Friday, Macron called for a US-EU plan to support the proposed 30-day ceasefire, backed by “massive economic sanctions” if either side violated the truce.

The US embassy in Kyiv has warned of a potential “significant air attack” in the coming days.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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