As the so-called “coalition of the willing” meets in London to discuss a strategy to end the war in Ukraine, European leaders have vowed to work together to ratchet up pressure on Russia.
Leaders called on more countries to impose sanctions on Russian oil companies after US President Donald Trump announced new sanctions targeting Russia’s two largest oil producers, Rosneft and Lukoil.
In response to President Trump’s actions, the EU imposed additional sanctions and agreed to provide funding to Ukraine for the next two years.
Europe is under increasing pressure to resolve the protracted conflict as Russian planes continue to invade Europe and deadly attacks damage Ukraine’s infrastructure.
Despite offers from President Trump and other world leaders to negotiate a resolution, Russian President Vladimir Putin maintained his maximalist demands for Kiev to end the war and refused to agree to an immediate ceasefire.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer emphasized that Ukraine’s security is linked to many other countries, including the United Kingdom.
Mr Starmer said: “Ukraine’s future is our future. What happens in the coming weeks and months is vital to the security of the UK and all our allies in NATO and beyond.”
Mr Starmer said on Friday that the UK had become “the first country to impose sanctions on all of the Russian oil majors”, including the same companies that the US has sanctioned.
Mr Starmer said the “combined impact” of the US, UK and EU sanctions not only affected Russia’s economy, but also showed “the countries are clearly working together and effectively in their efforts to support Ukraine”.
The prime minister called on more countries to further impose sanctions on Russian oil companies to “reduce their dependence and encourage third countries to stop buying these contaminated resources.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked President Trump and other Ukrainian “partners” for taking similar action, calling the recent oil sanctions a “huge step.”
“Diplomacy is important only if it leads to real decisions. And when it comes to Russia, that dish has many ingredients. The essential ones are real forms of pressure on Russia, sanctions, our long-range capabilities, political pressure, accountability for war crimes, and real actions regarding Russian assets,” the Ukrainian leader said.
President Zelenskiy has repeatedly called for U.S.-made Tomahawk missiles to enable Ukraine’s military to target oil and energy facilities deep in Russia.
Mr. Zelensky first visited Washington, and Mr. Trump rejected Mr. Zelensky’s request. He called on the European Council on Thursday to provide Ukraine with long-range weapons.
Ukraine continued to be hit by strikes even as the prime minister traveled to London to participate in coalition talks. At least three people were killed in a Russian airstrike targeting a residential area in Kherson on Friday morning, local authorities said.
“Long-range capabilities directly strengthen democracy,” Zelenskiy said at a coalition press conference on Friday. “The more losses Putin suffers on his own territory, the fewer attacks he will make on the front lines and the sooner he will agree to meaningful diplomacy.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has argued that now is the right time to use more force against Russia as Putin faces difficulties on the battlefield.
“The truth is that President Putin is running out of money, troops and ideas,” Rutte said.
“Now is the time to increase pressure on Russia and finally bring a fair and just peace to Ukraine,” Prime Minister Rutte said.
Shortly after a “good” meeting with President Trump in Washington, Rutte praised the US leader’s new sanctions, saying they would “starve” Russia’s two biggest oil companies.
He added that the move proves that President Trump is “absolutely determined to end this war and bring lasting peace to Ukraine.”
President Trump canceled a diplomatic summit with President Putin scheduled for Budapest because he felt the Russian leader was not committed to moving forward with a deal.
The two sides last spoke at a high-profile summit in Alaska over the summer, but little progress has been made since then.
Since then, President Trump has “not shown enough interest” from the Russian side to “move the ball forward toward peace,” White House press secretary Caroline Levitt told CNN.
Instead, Russia’s chief economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev will arrive in the United States, where he will meet with Trump administration officials “to continue discussions on U.S.-Russian relations,” a source familiar with the trip exclusively told CNN on Friday.
In a post on X late Friday, Dmitriev said his visit was “planned some time ago based on an invitation from the American side.”
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schauff told a coalition meeting that increasing economic pressure on Russia was “the only way to persuade President Putin to engage in serious negotiations.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the coalition “agreed to unite in effort” to counter Russia.
“I think Putin’s strategy was to wait for us to give up at some point, but of course that never happens,” she said.
