Peace in Ukraine “appears out of reach in the immediate future”, Germany’s defence minister has warned as Vladimir Putin is accused of “dragging his feet” on a ceasefire.
After a meeting of the 50-strong Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG), Boris Pistorius lashed out at Russia’s ongoing attacks on civilian and military targets inside Ukraine, urging the President Putin to back down.
“Russia needs to understand that Ukraine is able to go on fighting and we will support it,” he said.
But in a rallying call for Ukraine’s allies to step up their financial and military support for Kyiv, Mr Pistorius said: “Given Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine, we must concede that peace in Ukraine appears to be out of reach in the immediate future.”
His intervention came as UK defence secretary John Healey warned that the Russian dictator is continuing to “drag his feet” in US-brokered talks about a peace deal in Ukraine.
As Russia sends swarms of attack drones into Ukrainian cities, he said allies must not jeopardise the peace process by forgetting about the war.
And he hailed a record £18.2bn of new military support for Kyiv agreed by UDCG countries, vowing to “surge that support to the frontline fight”.
But echoing a warning from Sir Keir Starmer last month, Mr Healey said: “Today is one month to the day in which Russia rejected President Trump’s peace settlement.
“Putin said he wanted peace but he rejected a full ceasefire; Putin said he wanted peace but he continues to drag his feet and delay the negotiations; Putin said he wanted peace, but his forces continue to fire on Ukraine – military and civilian targets alike.
“From January through to March, he launched over 10,000 glide bombs into Ukraine.
“He is launching over 100 one-way attack drones every day and we’ve reached the point now where those battlefield casualties on both sides inflicted by drones now way outnumber those inflicted by artillery.
“In our calculations, 70-80 per cent of battlefield casualties are now caused and inflicted by drones.”
Mr Healey hailed the funding boost as a record increase in military support, while reiterating the UK’s commitment to spend £4.5bn on military aid for Ukraine this year.
It came as Mr Pistorious denied that the US defence secretary’s decision to attend the meeting of Ukraine’s backers virtually, despite Washington’s special envoy Steve Witkoff travelling in person to Moscow, was a sign America is losing interest in the peace process.
“In terms of the participation of Pete Hegseth, virtually or physically here in Brussels, it’s not a matter of priorities. I think it’s a matter of schedules,” he said.
He added that the “most important fact was that he took part”.
Until Donald Trump became president in January, defence contact group meetings were chaired by the US defence secretary.
Since then, in a sign of the US’s disengagement from European security, Mr Healey has taken over that duty, chairing his first such meeting in February.
Friday’s talks in Brussels followed a meeting of the smaller “coalition of the willing” in the Belgian capital on Thursday, as it develops plans to establish a peacekeeping force in Ukraine once a peace deal is struck between Russia and Ukraine.
Following the meeting, Mr Healey said the group had “clear objectives” for Ukraine, including “safe skies”, “safe seas”, peace on land and a strengthening of Kyiv’s armed forces.
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