Anthony Albanese repeats offer to ‘consider’ Australian participation in Ukraine peacekeeping effort
Anthony Albanese has joined a Coalition of the Willing virtual summit and repeated his offer to ‘consider’ Australia contributing to peacekeeping in Ukraine. Britain’s PM said military talks would be held on Thursday.
Anthony Albanese has joined a Coalition of the Willing virtual summit hosted by Sir Keir Starmer on Saturday night and repeated his offer to “consider” Australia contributing to a peacekeeping force in Ukraine.
The Prime Minister posted on X that he had taken part with the British prime minister and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and leaders from Europe, New Zealand and Canada. Reports said about 25 national and other leaders had taken part.
Leaders had agreed to “continue working on delivering concrete actions to support Ukraine now and into the future”, Mr Albanese said.
“Australia is open to considering any requests to contribute to a future peacekeeping effort in support of the just and lasting peace we all want for Ukraine,” Mr Albanese said.
Britain’s prime minister, Sir Keir, said after the summit that military chiefs would meet in the UK on Thursday to discuss plans for a peacekeeping force in Ukraine to protect any eventual ceasefire.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) March 15, 2025
Mr Albanese said Australia was “always open” to considering any new proposals to support Ukraine, in addition to the committed $1.5 billion in military support and equipment and training.
“Australia supports all meaningful progress towards a just and enduring peace in Ukraine and for broader security in Europe.
“But pressure will need to be applied on Russia to engage in good faith.”
Mr Albanese said he “restated that Australia will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes”.
He said “this is a struggle not just for the people of Ukraine … this is a struggle for the international rule of law” and supporting Ukraine was in Australia’s national interest because what happened in Europe had implications for the Indo-Pacific too.
Overnight fighting continued in the relentless three-year war, with Russia saying it had taken two more villages in its Kursk border region where it has launched an offensive to wrest back seized territory.
Sir Keir said after hosting the virtual summit: “We agreed to accelerate our practical work to support a potential deal, so we will now move into an operational phase.”
Sir Keir has said he welcomed any offer of support for the coalition, raising the prospect that some countries could contribute logistics or surveillance.
He said that “new commitments were put on the table” on Saturday.
Sir Keir said: “The group that met this morning is a bigger group than we had two weeks ago, there is a stronger collective resolve and new commitments were put on the table this morning, both in relation to the Coalition of the Willing in terms of defending the deal, also in relation to the wider point, which is the collective defence and security of Europe.
“So, more commitments on the table this morning and an agreement that we now move to the operational phase, which is why the talks on Thursday, the military talks, will become the next focal point.
“There was a wider agreement this morning, which was that the ‘yes, but’ from Russia is not good enough, and we agreed our collective pressure will be put on Russia from all of us who are in the meeting this morning.”
Sir Keir said Putin would “sooner or later” have to “come to the table” as he opened a virtual summit to drum up support for a coalition willing to protect any eventual ceasefire in Ukraine.
In a statement released by Sir Keir’s Downing Street office, he added: “We agreed that now the ball was in Russia’s court.
“President Putin must prove he is serious about peace, and sign up to a ceasefire on equal terms. The Kremlin’s dithering and delay over President Trump’s ceasefire proposal, and Russia’s continued barbaric attacks on Ukraine, run entirely counter to President Putin’s stated desire for peace.”
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The British prime minister told the fellow leaders as they joined the virtual call hosted by Downing Street that they should focus on how to strengthen Ukraine, protect any ceasefire and keep up the pressure on Moscow.
While Ukraine had shown it was the “party of peace” by agreeing to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, “Putin is the one trying to delay,” 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,” he added.
“We can’t allow President Putin to play games with President Trump’s deal,” Sir Keir Starmer said in comments released by Downing Street late Friday, ahead of Saturday’s call.
“The Kremlin’s complete disregard for President Trump’s ceasefire proposal only serves to demonstrate that Putin is not serious about peace.”
Sir Keir and French President Emmanuel Macron have been leading efforts to assemble a so-called “coalition of the willing” ever since Mr Trump opened direct negotiations with Moscow last month.
They say the group is necessary – along with US support – to provide Ukraine with security guarantees by deterring Putin from violating any ceasefire.
Ukraine’s President Zelensky, who was on Saturday’s call, said on Friday he had discussed “technical aspects” of how the ceasefire could be implemented with Mr Macron.
“Our teams continue to work on clear security guarantees, and they will be ready soon,” Mr Zelensky said on social media platform X.
Sir Keir and Mr 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.
Mr Macron called on Russia late on Friday to accept the proposal for a ceasefire, and stop making statements aimed at “delaying the process”.
The French president also demanded that Moscow stop its “acts of violence” in Ukraine.
Germany on Friday likewise criticised Putin’s response to the US-proposed ceasefire in Ukraine as “at best a delaying tactic”.
US 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”.
Future of sanctions and Russian assets discussed
Sir Keir also said billions of dollars n frozen Russian assets were discussed during Saturday’s meeting.
He told the press conference: “In terms of the sanctions, yes, we want to tighten the sanctions still further, and we discussed this morning how much further we can go, including the question of frozen assets.
“That is a complicated question, as I think everybody appreciates.
“So, we discussed further sanctions that have got nothing to do with the assets, which we will take forward as a result of this morning’s discussion, but also a continuing discussion about what more can be done on the assets themselves.”
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on Saturday it was vital to keep up the pressure on Russia to come to a ceasefire deal with Ukraine.
“It is now important to continue to exert pressure on Russia to come to the negotiating table,” said Mr Schoof in a message on X, formerly Twitter, after taking part in a virtual meeting with other leaders about Ukraine hosted by Britain.
Mr Schoof said there was “broad agreement” among the leaders to continue military and financial support for Ukraine.
The proposals from the US and Ukraine for a ceasefire “also give hope,” added the Dutch PM, warning that Europe would also continue to work hard on new sanctions on Russia.
Russia should back a ceasefire deal with Ukraine that could lead to durable peace, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday after a virtual meeting with other leaders.
“We reiterate our support to Ukraine’s agreement to a ceasefire. Now Russia has to show that it is willing to support a ceasefire leading to a just and lasting peace,” she said in a message on X, formerly Twitter.
She thanked Sir Keir for hosting a virtual call with some 25 fellow leaders as they sought to keep up the pressure on Russia and protect any eventual ceasefire in Ukraine.
“In the meantime, we will support strengthening Ukraine and its Armed Forces … finally, we will step up Europe’s defence efforts through ReArm Europe, boosting defence spending,” she said.
Zelensky denies troops surrounded in Kursk as Russia retakes villages
Mr Zelensky denied on Saturday his troops were encircled in Russia’s Kursk region, where Moscow has regained swaths of land this week, as Russia said it took back two more villages in the border region.
Mr Trump had a day earlier asked Putin on social media to spare the lives of Ukrainian troops that he said were “completely surrounded” by the Russian army.
Moscow has pushed this week to retake a large part of the land that Ukraine originally captured in its western Kursk region last northern summer.
Mr Zelensky has acknowledged that the situation in the Kursk area is “very difficult” for Ukraine, but contradicted Mr Trump’s comments.
“There is no encirclement of out troops,” he said on social media, adding that: “Our troops continue to hold back Russian and North Korean groupings in the Kursk region.” Kyiv had hoped to use the Russian territories as a bargaining chip in any negotiations to end the more than three-year conflict.
Putin had this week not committed to an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine proposed by the US, instead putting forward conditions and raising “serious questions” about the idea.
The Kremlin has hailed its troops ousting Ukrainian forces from swaths of the Kursk region, with Moscow on Saturday releasing images of a destroyed centre in Sudzha – the main town occupied by Ukrainian forces for months.
The Russian defence ministry said troops took control over the villages of Zaoleshenka and Rubanshchina – north and west of Sudzha.
Sudzha was home to around 6000 people before fighting began and Ukraine had set up a military administration there after its shock August 2024 incursion.
The Russian defence ministry’s footage showed heavily destroyed houses and shops, with rubble and broken glass on the streets, and some Russian flags flying.
The acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexander Khinstein, said Russia had evacuated 275 civilians from areas it had regained since Wednesday.
Elsewhere on the front, Mr Zelensky claimed the situation around the eastern city of Pokrovsk – which Russian troops have tried to capture for months– had “stabilised’’.
Ukrainian officials also said the number of wounded from a Russian strike a day earlier on Mr Zelensky’s hometown Kryvy Rig rose to 14.
Moscow has targeted the central city throughout its invasion and Kyiv said on Friday it struck a residential area of Kryvy Rig, destroying large apartment buildings.
with AFP
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