“We are all united in our desire for a just and lasting peace, which the Ukrainian people deserve. We strongly support President Trump’s position that fighting must cease immediately and that the current line of contact must be the starting point for negotiations. We remain faithful to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force.” The EU leaders, Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of Great Britain, France, Italy, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Poland and Germany declared this in a join statement
“Russia’s delaying tactics have demonstrated time and again that Ukraine is the only party serious about achieving peace. It is clear for all to see that Putin continues to choose violence and destruction. It is therefore clear that Ukraine must be in the strongest position possible, before, during and after any ceasefire. We must increase the pressure on the Russian economy and its defense industry until Putin is ready to make peace. We are working on measures to fully utilize the value of immobilized Russian sovereign assets, so that Ukraine has the resources it needs,” reads the joint statement signed by Zelensky, Meloni, Starmer, Macron, Merz, Tusk, von der Leyen, Costa, Stubb and Frederiksen.
This week, EU leaders and leaders of the Coalition of the Willing will meet to discuss how to move forward with “support for Ukraine”. This was announced in a joint statement by the EU leaders, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of Great Britain, France, Italy, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Poland and Germany.
Lavrov, “we are against an immediate ceasefire”
Russian Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov said that Russia is against an immediate cessation of hostilities in Ukraine, stating that at the summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, even US President Donald Trump had argued that “we need a lasting and sustainable peace and not an immediate ceasefire”. fire”https://gazzettadelsud.it/articoli/mondo/2025/10/21/i-leader-europei-e-zelensky-negoziati-partono-dallattu ale-lavrov-contact-line-against-an-immediate-ceasefire-b86feb05-4997-4f3a-88b5-718f9a23eb2a/.”We we remain faithful to this formula, and I confirmed it yesterday to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio”, added Lavrov, quoted by Tass. Lavrov said Russia was against an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine because that would mean “forgetting the root causes of this conflict.” Furthermore, an immediate cessation of fighting would go against the “agreements reached during the long negotiations” between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at the August 15th summit in Alaska, added Lavrov, quoted by Interfax. The US president had asked for a freeze in the conflict on the current front line, which Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders, including Giorgia Meloni, said they were in favor of today.