MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Monday that pledges made by European leaders at a London summit on Ukraine over the weekend to increase funding to Kyiv will not help bring about a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other Western leaders on Sunday, where they agreed to draw up a Ukraine peace plan to present to the United States two days after Zelenskiy clashed with President Donald Trump at an extraordinary meeting at the White House.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the funding pledges from European leaders – including a $2 billion air-defence missiles deal from Britain – will cause the war to drag on.
“This clearly does not relate to a peace plan”, but will allow for “the continuation of hostilities”, Peskov told reporters.
“Any constructive initiatives (for peace) will be in demand now. It’s very important that someone forces Zelenskiy himself to change his position. He doesn’t want peace. Someone must make Zelenskiy want peace,” Peskov said.
Starmer, who welcomed a visibly shaken Zelenskiy to London with a warm hug on Saturday, said Britain, Ukraine, France and some other nations would form a “coalition of the willing” and draw up a peace plan to take to Trump.
Peskov said European leaders would need to “make a lot of effort” with Washington to wash away the “unpleasant residue” of Zelenskiy’s meeting with Trump.
The Ukrainian leader told reporters on Sunday he believed he could salvage his relationship with Trump, but that talks would have to take place behind closed doors.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; editing by Guy Faulconbridge/Andrew Osborn)
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