Britain and France have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging out talks on a ceasefire aimed at stopping Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and have demanded a swift response from Moscow after US efforts to broker a ceasefire.
Russia has effectively rejected a US proposal for a complete ceasefire for 30 days, while Ukraine has accepted Washington's plan.
"In our view, Putin is continuing to obfuscate the situation, is continuing to drag out the process," British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told reporters at NATO headquarters, standing alongside his French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot.
The Kremlin envoy, who visited Washington this week for talks with officials from the administration of US President Donald Trump, said that further meetings would be needed to resolve outstanding issues.
Kirill Dmitriev told Russian journalists "that the dialogue takes time, but it is going in a positive and constructive way."
He criticized what he called a "coordinated media campaign and efforts by some politicians to damage Russia-US relations, to distort what Russia says, and to present Russia and its leaders in a negative light."
Britain and France are leading the multinational effort known as the "coalition of the willing," aiming to create a security force that would be deployed in Ukraine if a ceasefire agreement is reached in the future.
A senior Ukrainian official said earlier this week that between ten and 12 countries have so far said they will join this coalition.
Lammy said that while Putin must accept a ceasefire agreement, "he is continuing to bomb Ukraine. He is bombing its civilian population, its energy supplies. We are seeing how Putin is operating, we know what he is doing."
Barrot said that Ukraine accepted the terms of a ceasefire three weeks ago, and now Russia "now owes the US a response."
"Russia is dragging out the process, it is continuing attacks on energy infrastructure, it is continuing war crimes," Barrot said. "It must say 'yes' and it must give an answer quickly."
According to the French minister, Russia has shown no sign of wanting to stop its military campaign, recalling that on Monday Putin ordered the recruitment of 160,000 new soldiers for compulsory military service for one year.
The two ministers pledged to continue helping Ukraine strengthen its military, as Kiev has been facing an invasion launched by Moscow since 2022./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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