UK, EU in talks to speed up arms shipments to Ukraine ahead of potential ceasefire

The United Kingdom and the European Union are in discussions to accelerate the delivery of weapons to Ukraine in anticipation of a possible full ceasefire, Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said.

His comments came shortly before Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to a limited truce, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

Lammy revealed that he had spoken about increasing military support for Ukraine with the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, during a meeting in London on March 18. He added that the issue had also been raised at last week’s G7 gathering of foreign ministers in Canada.

“Of course it’s our intention to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position militarily and economically,” he said in an interview ahead of Putin’s conversation with US President Donald Trump. “We want peace to prevail but we get peace through strength and that means putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position to repel any prospects of the war beginning again.”

During their call, Putin and Trump agreed to a 30-day restriction on Russian attacks targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure. However, the Russian president refused to commit to the broader ceasefire that Washington had sought. The White House later confirmed that the two leaders had agreed to launch negotiations on a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, as well as talks on achieving a “full ceasefire and permanent peace.”

The Kremlin’s account of the discussion stated that Putin had set out several conditions for a lasting truce. These included the suspension of military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine, as well as an end to Kyiv’s mobilisation of new troops. Moscow insisted that “the key condition for preventing the escalation of the conflict and working toward its resolution through political and diplomatic means should be the complete cessation of foreign military assistance and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv.”

Ahead of the release of the call readouts, Lammy urged Russia to agree to an “unconditional ceasefire” and warned against allowing Putin to use a truce as an opportunity to rebuild his forces before a lasting peace agreement is reached. The UK, along with other European allies of Ukraine, remains concerned that Russia may reject a long-term settlement and instead use any pause in fighting to rearm.

“What we want is an end to all fighting, not a period in which Putin is able to re-arm and go again,” Lammy said. “No ifs, no buts, no conditions: Putin could simply declare an unconditional ceasefire on the basis of what was negotiated between the US, with our help, and the Ukrainians last week and we could begin the proper process of peace in Ukraine.”

By Aghakazim Guliyev