By Guy Birchall
A coalition of European leaders on Oct. 21 publicly endorsed President Donald Trump’s cease-fire plan for Ukraine, signaling support across the continent for a negotiated end to the war based on current front-line positions.
In a joint statement, the nations—which included the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Ukraine—threw their support behind Washington’s call for the fighting to stop immediately, and that the current line of contact should be the starting point for lasting peace negotiations.
The endorsement marks the first coordinated European backing of Trump’s push for a ceasefire that reflects battlefield realities—an approach that has divided Western policymakers since the president first publicly floated the idea in August.
“Russia’s stalling tactics have shown time and time again that Ukraine is the only party serious about peace. We can all see that Putin continues to choose violence and destruction,” the statement read.
“Therefore, we are clear that Ukraine must be in the strongest possible position—before, during, and after any ceasefire.”
The statement added that pressure needed to be ramped up on “Russia’s economy and its defense industry,” until Russian President Vladimir Putin is “ready to make peace,” and that measures were being developed “to use the full value of Russia’s immobilized sovereign assets so that Ukraine has the resources it needs.”
A meeting of the European Council is scheduled to take place in Brussels on Oct. 23, with a separate meeting of the Coalition of the Willing slated for London on Oct. 24, to discuss how to further support Kyiv.
The coalition—put together by France and the UK in February—has held numerous talks at various levels in an attempt to define plans for what countries could contribute militarily to Ukraine and to deter Russia from attacking it again once there is a final truce.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be in attendance at the meeting in London, according to French President Emmanuel Macron.
On Oct. 19, Trump said that Ukraine should cede territory in the Donbas region already under Russian control in order to end the war.
“We think that what they should do is just stop at the lines where they are, the battle lines,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“They should stop right now at the battle lines. Go home. Stop killing people and be done.”
When asked what should happen to the eastern Donbas region, Trump said: “Let it be cut the way it is. It’s cut up right now. I think 78 percent of the land is already taken by Russia.
“You leave it the way it is, right now. They can negotiate something later on down the line.”
The president, however, said that he never discussed ceding the whole Donbas territory to Moscow during his latest meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
On Oct. 17, Trump hosted Zelenskyy at the White House, during which the president expressed hope that he would be able to resolve the Russia–Ukraine war without sending Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv.
The visit followed what Trump called his “very productive” phone call with Putin on Oct. 16.
Meanwhile, Moscow pushed back on reports that first emerged on CNN that the proposed meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been delayed.
“I would like to point out that it’s impossible to put on hold what has not been agreed on. I am sure that we will continue to face a situation where various news outlets, namely Western ones, release unfounded, bogus stories in order to make the headlines and trigger speculations and questions, spreading it all and making sure it is analyzed the way the Westerners need,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said, according to the state-run Russian news agency TASS.
Trump said on Oct. 16 that he would meet with Putin in Budapest for peace talks, and that the summit could take place in as little as two weeks.
However, ahead of the mooted meeting in the Hungarian capital, Lavrov and Rubio are supposed to meet in person to thrash out issues, of which Moscow has previously said there are “a lot,” according to TASS.
Trump and Putin previously met in Anchorage, Alaska, in August; the first in-person encounter between a U.S. president and Putin since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Victoria Freidman contributed to this report.
