Top European diplomats: Russia must show serious intent to make progress without delay

A group of top European diplomats from Ukraine's allied states issued a statement after talks in London on Monday 12 May saying that Russia has shown no serious intention to make progress in the peace process and urging Russia to do so "without delay".

Source: a statement published on the UK government's website, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK and the EU foreign policy chief welcomed the US-led peace efforts and the prospect of continuing negotiations this week. 

"So far, Russia has not shown any serious intent to make progress. It must do so without delay," the statement said.

The diplomats said they would "pursue ambitious measures to reduce Russia’s ability to wage war by limiting Kremlin revenue" and had discussed how to further step up European efforts to support Ukraine.

They said they were committed to robust security guarantees for Ukraine and would continue to explore "the creation of a coalition of air, land and maritime reassurance forces that could help create confidence in any future peace and support the regeneration of Ukraine’s armed forces".

Background: 

• On Saturday 10 May, Germany, France, the UK and Poland called on Russia to agree to a 30-day ceasefire starting on 12 May, threatening the Russian Federation with further sanctions if it does not agree to the ceasefire.
• Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin did not respond to the proposal for a 30-day pause in hostilities, but said he was ready for direct talks with Kyiv in Istanbul on Thursday 15 May.
• On 12 May, the German government said that if a ceasefire is not established in Ukraine by the end of Monday, Berlin, together with its European partners, will begin the process of preparing new sanctions against Russia.
• The Kremlin said in response that Russia cannot be spoken to in the "language of ultimatums".

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!