Europe to mull over peace plan in Ukraine

LEADERS of France, Germany and Britain was to host a video call yesterday for their so-called “coalition of the willing” to discuss steps towards ending the war in Ukraine, after Donald Trump dropped his push for a ceasefire after his Alaska summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

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Securing a ceasefire in Ukraine, more than three years after Russia's invasion, had been one of the US president's core demands before the summit, to which Ukraine and its European allies were not invited.

But after a meeting that yielded no clear breakthrough, Trump ruled out an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine - a move that would appear to favour Putin who has long argued for negotiations on a final peace deal.

Ukraine and its European allies have criticised it as a way to buy time and press Russia’s battlefield advances.

Trump spoke with Zelenskiy and European leaders on his flight back from Alaska to Washington, saying afterward that “it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement which would end the war”

Ceasefire agreements “often times do not hold up,’ Trump added on his Truth Social platform.