The leaders of the UK, Ukraine, France and Germany have discussed the “urgent need” to ramp up production of defensive weapons and deep-strike capabilities after Russia fired Oreshnik missiles at Ukraine, Downing Street said.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hosted Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky along with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz – some of Kyiv’s staunchest allies – at No 10 on Sunday evening for talks on the war.
The leaders called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree “an immediate and complete ceasefire” with the current line of contact as a starting point for any negotiations, Downing Street said.
A readout said: “They condemned Russia’s large-scale missile and drone attacks – including the repeated use of the Oreshnik missiles – on Ukrainian cities with a tragic toll on civilians, as well as irresponsible and dangerous Russian drone incursions into Nato territory.
“They expressed their condolences to all the victims.
“They discussed how to use the upcoming G7 summit at Evian, the next meeting of the ‘coalition of the willing’, and the Nato summit at Ankara to best coordinate further support for Ukraine based on its prioritised needs, including further pressure on Russia’s war economy and an increased pledge of military and defence support for Ukraine at the Nato summit.
“The leaders underlined the urgent need to scale up the production of interceptors and co-develop anti-ballistic missile and deep strike capabilities, and to support the future sustainability of the Ukrainian armed forces.”
The Russian leader has stepped up his aerial campaign against Ukraine, with Moscow’s forces recently launching another of their powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missiles.
Ukraine’s shortage of air defence systems, in part because of US stocks being depleted by the Iran war, has left civilians especially vulnerable to ballistic missiles, even as Kyiv’s defences stop most of Moscow’s drones.
The meeting on Sunday evening came on the day a Russian drone strike damaged a storage centre for spent nuclear fuel nine miles from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
The attack sparked a fire that was extinguished within an hour and radiation remains within safe levels, officials said.
In a post on social media, Mr Zelensky said the focus of Sunday’s meeting would be “our defence in the war, greater cooperation for the security of all of Europe in the area of air defence” and discussion of diplomatic prospects.
“Europe must be part of the negotiations and must be strong,” he said.
It comes after a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack targeted St Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, on Saturday, underscoring Kyiv’s growing ability to hit deep inside Russia.
“We will not just silently die. We will respond,” Mr Zelensky told Sky News on Sunday.
“We will be stronger and stronger each day.”
Writing on X, the Ukrainian leader hit out at the “extremely vile” strike near Chernobyl, saying it was “an increase in Russia’s brazenness”.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said the incident was “deeply concerning” due to the large amounts of nuclear material held at the facility.
On Friday, Mr Putin rejected a proposal by Mr Zelensky for face-to-face talks on the four-year-old war, claiming he saw “no point” in a meeting.
The so-called E3 group of nations meeting the Ukrainian leader are some of Kyiv’s closest allies, with the UK and France leading the “coalition of the willing” initiative to provide security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a peace process.
