VLADIMIR Putin has 24 hours to sign up to an unconditional 30 day ceasefire in Ukraine – or face “painful sanctions” from Europe and America.
Sir Keir Starmer joined leaders from France, Germany and Poland in issuing the tough ultimatum to Russia as they visited war-torn Kyiv to mark the end of VE Day week.
Crucially, Donald Trump backed the plan – piling massive pressure on Putin to sign up to the peace deal or face America’s wrath.
The Sun on Sunday joined Sir Keir in Kyiv as he stood shoulder to shoulder with Volodymyr Zelensky to challenge Mad Vlad to lay down his weapons and come to the negotiating table.
Speaking at a press conference in the grounds of the Ukrainian Presidential Palace, Sir Keir said it is time to “win the battle for peace”.
The PM said: “All of us together with the US are calling Putin out.
“If he is serious about peace, he has a chance to show that now by extending the VE Day peace to a full 30 day ceasefire.”
If Russia refuses, it will be hit with more crippling sanctions which targets their lucrative oil trade in a bid to grind down its wartime economy. Russia’s banking sector will also be targeted.
Military aid to Ukraine will again be ramped up so it will be armed to the teeth to take on the Red Army if Putin refuses to comply.
Sir Keir said there is “unity and strength” as around 30 countries across Europe and including Canada, America and Japan are signed up to the plan.
But Russian figures immediately hit back at the peace plan.
Dmitry Medvedev – the former leader of Russia – fumed online: “Shove these plans into your pangender asses!”.
If everyone wants peace why is the war in Ukraine still raging? The answer is very simple
COMMENT by Jerome Starkey
EVERYONE says they want peace, so why is the war still raging in Ukraine?
The short answer is simple: Peace means very different things to very different people.
They have different goals and different motives. Vladimir Putin wants total conquest.
And he wants to be remembered as a modern Tsar who restored Russia’s imperial greatness.
Ukraine wants to survive, as a sovereign independent nation.
Europe wants a chastened Russia and peace that lasts beyond six months.
Trump just wants a deal — any deal at any price — with minerals thrown in for good measure.
He wants to claim the glory and perhaps a Nobel Peace Prize for sorting out the carnage which he sees as Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s mess.
The American position is clear from the terrible deal they want Kyiv to accept.
Their so-called seven-point peace plan would freeze the war on the current front lines and force Ukraine to surrender almost all of its occupied territories — some 44,000 square miles — with almost nothing in return.
Sir Keir joined President Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish PM Donald Tusk to draw up the plan in the Ukrainian Presidential Palace in the heart of Kyiv.
They then called President Trump on President Macron’s phone and spoke to him for 20 minutes about their plan. The conversation was said to be “very warm”.
Speaking in the grounds of the ornate Presidential Palace, President Macron said: “The camp of peace is here today, and the camp of war is in Moscow.”
Hero war leader President Zelensky added: “Together we can lay the foundations for peace” – but said he doubted Russia would abide by peace.”
Earlier, the leaders had visited Kyiv’s famous Maidan Square, to lay a candle at the foot of flowers laid to remember those killed in Russia’s brutal war.
Above them stood the towering figure of the independence monument of Ukraine, put up in 1991 to celebrate the country casting off the Soviet yoke.
They then stopped for a minute’s silence as a military guard of honour stood by them.
