Sawt Falasteen - UK hosts European ministers for Ukraine talks after ceasefire ultimatum

Representatives from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the EU will join Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London for a meeting of the so-called "Weimar+" group.

The coalition was set up in February in response to shifting US policy towards the war between Ukraine and Russia, and European security in general, under President Donald Trump.

Lammy is expected to announce further sanctions targeting those backing Russia's invasion, his ministry said.

The meeting follows Saturday's visit by the leaders of France, Germany, Poland and the UK to Kyiv.

During the visit, the leaders -- joined by the United States -- called for Russia to agree to a 30-day ceasefire to allow for peace talks.

This is the sixth meeting of the Weimar+ group and the first hosted by the UK.

The talks will cover "repelling Russian aggression and bolstering European security", said the UK Foreign Office.

They will focus on "both our joint efforts to strengthen European security and securing a just and lasting peace for Ukraine", it added. 

Lammy will be joined by his German, Spanish and Polish counterparts, while France will be represented by its minister for Europe Benjamin Haddad.

The EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas will also attend.

- 'Existential' challenge -

European leaders are "facing a once-in-a-generation moment for the collective security of our continent", said Lammy.

"The challenge we face today is not only about the future of Ukraine -– it is existential for Europe as a whole," he said ahead of the talks.

"I have brought our friends and partners to London to make clear that we must stand together, allied in our protection of sovereignty, of peace and of Ukraine," he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15. He did not respond to the European call for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire from Monday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would be prepared to meet Putin in Turkey, but did not say whether he would still attend if Russia refused the 30-day ceasefire proposal.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned that Putin was merely trying "to buy time".

"An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations, by definition," he told reporters as he stepped off a train in the Polish city of Przemysl on his return from Ukraine.

He reiterated his position in a statement from the Elysee later Sunday, insisting on "necessity for a ceasefire" before talks between Putin and Zelensky.

The European leaders, together with Zelensky, had pressed Russia in the Kyiv meeting on Saturday to accept the unconditional ceasefire, threatening Moscow with new sanctions if it did not comply.

The United States and other countries back the proposal, they said.

Kyiv and its allies had feared that Trump was pivoting towards Moscow because he had clashed with Zelensky. But Trump has recently expressed growing impatience with Putin.

O.Mousa--SF-PST