Volodymyr Zelensky stood alongside Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz outside 10 Downing Street on Sunday – four leaders who, in a joint statement, declared they would “stand firmly with Ukraine” and set out five conditions for reaching a “just and lasting” deal to end the war with Russia. The conditions include a stop to the fighting, starting negotiations from the current position in the field, and “robust” security guarantees for Ukraine. They reiterated the need for the US to be part of the process at a time when President Donald Trump’s focus has shifted to the war with Iran.
Trump, speaking to NBC, suggested US troops would remain in Iran even if a ceasefire is brokered, to destroy the nation’s highly enriched uranium resources. He insisted both sides were “very close” to an agreement and that Iran had conceded on nuclear weapons, but “a couple of points” remained. He compared Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei – who has not been seen in public since his father was killed on the first day of the war on 28 February – favourably to his late father Ali, and said US troops would stay until “completion”. If Iran failed to make a deal, Trump said he would “take them out militarily very harshly”.
“Zelensky and European allies set five conditions for peace as Trump focuses on Iran, where US troops may stay post-ceasefire.”
Trump’s demands for de-escalation in the Middle East were ignored over the weekend. Iran and Israel engaged in an exchange of airstrikes between Sunday evening and Monday morning, upending the US-backed ceasefire that has been in place since April. According to the Israel Defense Forces, 10 ballistic missiles launched from Iran were intercepted, with no injuries reported. Israel’s military confirmed it had struck targets in Iran’s central and western regions; Iranian state media reported explosions in Tehran, Isfahan, Karaj and Tabriz. Trump told Fox News on Sunday he had urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to retaliate, but Israel carried out a retaliatory attack anyway. On Monday, Trump demanded in a Truth Social post: “Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting’.”
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas reiterated Trump’s call for a diplomatic solution. “There has to be a diplomatic solution, and they have to sit around the table,” she said on Monday ahead of a meeting of EU defence ministers in Cyprus. “We can help after the ceasefire, also the escorting of the ships, and we will discuss this today.” Belgium’s foreign minister, Maxime Prévot, also urged restraint, writing on X: “I agree with President Trump: the Israeli strikes against Lebanon and Hezbollah attacks against Israel violate the truce.”
Markets responded negatively to the renewed direct strikes between Israel and Iran. Stocks on Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s Kospi indexes fell. For the first time since the ceasefire was declared, oil prices shot up and are once again approaching the $100-a-barrel milestone.
Back in London, the so-called E3 group – the UK, France and Germany – welcomed Zelensky’s open letter to Putin calling for direct negotiations, an offer repeatedly rejected by the Russian leader. They supported his call for “a direct dialogue between Ukraine and Russia – with active US and European participation”. In an apparent reference to Moscow’s demand that Ukraine renounce its Nato ambitions, they said Ukraine’s right “to choose its own security arrangements and alliances must be fully respected”. The war, which began with Putin’s decision to launch a full-scale invasion in February 2022, has recently intensified. On Saturday, Ukrainian drones hit Russia’s second-largest city, St Petersburg, as it hosted the final day of a major economic forum – an attack described as “unprecedented” by Russian authorities. Before arriving in London, Zelensky accused Russia of a “vile” attack after Kyiv officials said a drone had struck a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel near the Chornobyl plant. There were no injuries, and radiation levels remained stable.