'Ball in Russia's court' says UK, Moscow warns Kyiv's 'time shrinking'

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the "ball was in Russia's court" and that President Vladimir Putin would "sooner or later" have to "come to the table," after Saturday's virtual summit to build support for a coalition willing to protect a Ukraine ceasefire.

Starmer told 26 fellow leaders on group call hosted by Downing Street they should focus on strengthening Ukraine and keep up the pressure on Moscow. He said: "If Putin is serious about peace, I think it's very simple. He has to stop his barbaric attacks on Ukraine and agree to a ceasefire, and the world is watching."

Military chiefs will meet again on Thursday in the UK as the coalition moves into "the operational phase," Starmer said after the talks.

EU chief European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia has to show "it is willing to support a ceasefire leading to a just and lasting peace."

Overnight fighting continued in the relentless three-year conflict, with Russia saying it had taken two more villages in its Kursk border region where it has launched an offensive to wrestle back seized territory.

Kursk battles

As moves have gathered pace for a ceasefire, Moscow has pushed this week to retake a large part of the land that Ukraine originally captured in western Kursk. 

But Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who joined the talks, denied Saturday any "encirclement" of his troops in the Kursk region.

Zelenskyy also accused Putin of lying "about the situation on the ground, especially about what's happening in the Kursk region" and "about how a ceasefire is supposedly too complicated."

Russia's defense ministry said troops took control over the villages of Zaoleshenka and Rubanshchina - north and west of the town of Sudzha, the main town that Moscow reclaimed this week. Regarding Ukraine's movements in Kursk, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "It is still in force. Their time is shrinking like shagreen skin."

Putin has called on embattled Ukrainian troops in Kursk to "surrender" while his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump urged the Kremlin to spare their lives.

Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have been leading efforts to assemble a so-called "coalition of the willing" ever since Trump opened direct negotiations with Moscow last month.

Starmer and Macron have said they are willing to put British and French troops on the ground in Ukraine but it is not clear if other countries are keen on doing the same.

Peacekeeping proposition

Türkiye has indicated it could play a part in peacekeeping efforts, while Italy is not planning on sending soldiers to Ukraine, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said after the virtual summit. 

Starmer has said he welcomes any offer of support for the coalition, raising the prospect that some countries could contribute logistics or surveillance.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday he was "cautiously optimistic" about reaching a truce, but acknowledged there was "a lot of work that remains to be done."

British Commonwealth partners Canada, Australia and New Zealand have been involved in early talks and dialed into the summit.

NATO chief Mark Rutte and EU chiefs Von der Leyen and Antonio Costa also took part, along with the leaders of Germany, Spain, Portugal, Latvia, Romania, Turkiye and the Czech Republic among others.