Europe to mull over plan for peace in Ukraine after Trump-Putin summit

Washington: Leaders of France, Germany and Britain will host a video call on Sunday for their so called coalition of the willing to discuss steps to...

Washington: Leaders of France, Germany and Britain will host a video call on Sunday for their so-called "coalition of the willing" to discuss steps towards ending the war in Ukraine, after Donald Trump dropped his push for a ceasefire after his Alaska summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Securing a ceasefire in Ukraine, more than three years after Russia's invasion, had been one of the US president's core demands before the summit, to which Ukraine and its European allies were not invited.

But after a meeting that yielded no clear breakthrough, Trump ruled out an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine -- a move that would appear to favor Putin who has long argued for negotiations on a final peace deal.

Ukraine and its European allies have criticized it as a way to buy time and press Russia's battlefield advances.

Trump spoke with Zelensky and European leaders on his flight back from Alaska to Washington, saying afterward that "it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement which would end the war."