According to The Guardian, Starmer said that he was "not entirely surprised" by Russia's apparent rejection of the U.S.-led ceasefire proposal.
"It doesn't entirely surprise me that Russia is taking this stance. They've made it pretty clear. They put it in lights a number of times over," he said.
In his opinion, "progress was made" on Tuesday, March 11. He expressed hope that after that day, the ball would be in the Russian court, where the pressure would come on Moscow.
"That has now happened. That is a good thing, because Russia is the aggressor. Russia is the country that where there had been previous deals and agreements, [it] has not honored those. We know that Putin has ambitions that are barely disguised," Starmer said.
Read also: Putin says Russia 'in favor' of ceasefire but there are 'nuances'Asked about the next steps, he said: "What we need to do now is work with our allies, work with the U.S., work with Ukraine, and obviously I've got this meeting in on Saturday to bring a number of leaders together to see what further progress that we can make, but lasting secure peace with the sovereignty and security of Ukraine."
"But it has to be a peace where the deal is defended, because we've had a deal before, and it's not been maintained, because Russia just breaches the line," Starmer said.
He also specifically called out Kremlin's opposition to proposals to give Ukraine additional security guarantees: "His [Putin's] reaction reinforces my strong belief that if the deal is not defended with security guarantees, then he will breach it in due course."
Photo: РА
