The UK and France on Friday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of unnecessarily delaying agreeing to a US-backed ceasefire proposal to halt Moscow's ongoing war in Ukraine.
"Our judgement is that Putin continues to obfuscate, continues to drag his feet,” UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a joint address with his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot in Brussels on Friday.
Russia "owes an answer" to the US, Barrot agreed, adding that Moscow continued to strike Ukraine's energy infrastructure, despite the Kremlin declaring that the deal covered a halt in strikes on energy facilities.
The US ceasefire proposal, presented to Russia three weeks ago, called for a full interim 30-day pause in fighting in the Black Sea as well as across the frontline.
Whilst the White House declared "energy and infrastructure" would be covered, the Kremlin insisted that the agreement referred more narrowly to "energy infrastructure".
Since then, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's aide Dmytro Lytvyn claimed Moscow had hit Ukraine's energy facilities a total of eight times. Ukraine's armed forces have also shot down hundreds of drones intending to target energy facilities, Lytvyn said.
Both Lammy and Barrot agreed that Putin had continued his strikes on Ukraine's energy facilities in an apparent dismissal of the truce agreement.
“Russia has been flip-flopping, continuing its strikes on energy infrastructure, continuing its war crimes,” Barrot said. “It has to be ‘yes.’ It has to be ‘no.’ It has to be a quick answer.”
He said that Moscow showed no sign of preparing to slow down its military campaign, noting that Putin on Monday ordered a call-up intended to draft 160,000 conscripts for compulsory military service.
The Kremlin continues to bombard Ukraine, Lammy agreed. "We see you, Vladimir Putin. We know what you are doing.”
On Tuesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov conceded that Moscow had effectively rejected the truce by describing the US proposals as unacceptable.
“We take the models and solutions proposed by the Americans very seriously, but we can’t accept it all in its current form,” Ryabkov was quoted by state media as telling the foreign ministry's own magazine, International Affairs.
For his part, US President Donald Trump on Sunday said he was "very angry, pissed off" with Putin for failing to adhere to the agreement.
Trump insisted progress was being made on negotiations by his administration, but blamed both Putin and Zelenskyy for failing to stop the war he pledged he could end in 24 hours after becoming leader.
"If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia's fault ... I am going to put secondary tariffs on all oil coming out of Russia," Trump told NBC News.
