London summit and joint statement

On Sunday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer convened in London. The meeting, held under the E3-Ukraine format, focused on defence support and the path toward ending the war. Following the talks, the four leaders released a joint declaration urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to an immediate ceasefire and enter negotiations for a lasting peace.

Five conditions for peace

The joint statement enumerated five prerequisites for a "just and durable peace": an immediate and complete ceasefire; the current contact line as the starting point for talks; the inviolability of international borders, rejecting any changes by force; full respect for Ukraine's right to choose its own security arrangements and alliances; and, once a ceasefire takes effect, the provision of "robust and legally binding" security guarantees to Ukraine, including the deployment of a multinational force. The leaders also stipulated that Russian assets remain frozen until Russia ends its war of aggression and compensates Ukraine for the damage caused.

Zelenskyy's diplomatic outreach

“We met in the important E3-Ukraine format. At the centre of an intensive discussion was our defence.”

Zelenskyy wrote on X after the summit. In a parallel Sky News interview, he reflected on Moscow's mixed signals, saying,

“Sometimes you don't understand what the Russians really want.”

He insisted that Putin "wants to win this terrible war" but had lately seen his troops lose the battlefield initiative. All decisions now hinged "one hundred percent" on Putin.

Zelenskyy reaffirmed his willingness to meet Putin directly, but not in Moscow, Kyiv, or Minsk, and stressed that any settlement must prevent another conflict.

“I am also ready for bilateral talks,”

he said, adding that the war must end in a way that it does not restart "because of some stupid people."

Abramovich as intermediary

The Financial Times reported, citing four sources, that Zelenskyy had recently hosted Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich in Kyiv and used him as a messenger to Putin. Zelenskyy confirmed the meeting, saying he told Abramovich to convey that Ukraine would never give up the Donbas and that he was prepared for a face-to-face meeting outside Russia or Belarus.

“I said, you can choose any time from tomorrow, you can choose any day and any format,”

Zelenskyy recounted.

Shifting US engagement, Europe steps up

US-led peace efforts have stalled. President Donald Trump's earlier proposals, including an August 2025 invitation to Putin to Alaska, required deep concessions from Kyiv, such as troop limits, a constitutional bar on NATO membership, and de facto recognition of Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk as Russian. Those terms never gained traction. Two weeks ago, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said others were welcome to try brokering an end to the war. European officials now see an opening.

“Slowly a window is opening for talks of the European side with Russia,”

a German government source told Tagesschau.

The sequence of recent diplomatic moves:

Finnish President Alexander Stubb urged Europe to seize the initiative, telling the Neue Zürcher Zeitung that while coordination with Washington was essential, Europe should also examine whether US policy aligned with European interests.