The United Kingdom and France on Friday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of deliberately delaying negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire to end the invasion of Ukraine. Both countries demanded an immediate response from Moscow after weeks of U.S.-led efforts to broker a truce.
Meanwhile, a Russian drone strike on Thursday night in Kharkiv — Ukraine’s second-largest city — killed five civilians, underscoring the urgent diplomatic push to halt the violence. Emergency crews retrieved bodies in black bags from a burning apartment building, as witnesses wept and embraced in the darkness. Some of the 32 wounded, bloodied and in shock, limped into the street or were carried out on stretchers while flames poured from their homes.
“I think it’s now clear who wants peace and who wants war,” said Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha during a NATO meeting in Brussels, referring to the attack on Kharkiv. “We must get Russia to take peace seriously. We must pressure it to accept peace.”
Russia recently rejected a U.S. proposal for a full and immediate 30-day ceasefire. A Kremlin official said Monday that Moscow views efforts to end the three-year war as “a prolonged process.”
“Our assessment is that Putin continues to stall and obscure,” said British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, speaking to reporters at NATO headquarters alongside his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot, in a symbolic show of unity.
A Kremlin envoy who visited Washington this week for meetings with Trump administration officials said Friday that further rounds of dialogue would be necessary to resolve remaining issues. Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund — previously sanctioned by the Biden administration after the invasion — said talks were “progressing in a positive and constructive manner,” though they would take time. He also criticized what he described as “a well-coordinated media campaign and efforts by certain politicians to distort Russia’s position and portray its leaders in a negative light.”
Russian forces also attacked civilian areas in three other Ukrainian regions overnight, officials said. Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia launched 78 attack and decoy drones, while the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed its air defenses destroyed 107 Ukrainian drones.
According to Ukrainian and Western analysts, Russian forces are preparing a new military offensive in the coming weeks to increase pressure on Ukraine and strengthen the Kremlin’s position in ceasefire negotiations. The offensive would target multiple points along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, taking advantage of drying terrain to mobilize tanks, armored vehicles, and other heavy equipment.
London and Paris are currently leading a multinational effort known as the “coalition of the willing,” aimed at forming a force to oversee any future peace agreement in Ukraine. A senior Ukrainian official said earlier this week that 10 to 12 countries have expressed willingness to join the coalition.
Lammy was blunt in his remarks: “While he should be agreeing to a ceasefire, Putin continues to bomb Ukraine — its civilians, its energy supplies. We see you, Vladimir Putin. We know what you’re doing.”
Moscow’s cautious approach to ceasefire talks hasn’t surprised Western observers, given the momentum its forces have gained on the battlefield. A recent annual threat assessment from the U.S. intelligence community stated that for Russia, “positive trends on the battlefield allow for some strategic patience.”
“Over the past year, Russia has regained the upper hand in Ukraine and is on track to build greater leverage to pressure Kyiv and its Western backers into accepting a negotiated end to the war that grants Moscow the concessions it seeks,” the report said.
Coalition military leaders were scheduled to meet in Kyiv on Friday, with defense ministers set to convene at NATO headquarters next Thursday.
General Christopher Cavoli, the top U.S. commander in Europe, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that Russia is also rapidly rebuilding its military. Russian forces in Ukraine now number over 600,000 troops — the highest figure in the war and nearly double the size of the initial invasion force, he said. Russia is on track to replace all the tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, and air defense systems it has lost so far.
Cavoli also noted that Russia is currently capable of producing 250,000 artillery shells per month, allowing it to build an arsenal three times larger than the combined output of the U.S. and Europe.
