Europe ‘Ready to Respond Firmly’ if Russia Refuses 30-Day Ceasefire – Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that the West is “ready to respond firmly” if Russia refuses the West’s 30-day ceasefire proposal. 

Macron’s statement followed similar comments by a number of northern European nations and the UK during a meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) coalition in Oslo earlier on Friday.

In a Friday X update, Macron said he supported US President Donald Trump’s renewed call for a 30-day ceasefire after the latter’s Thursday phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

“I commend [Trump’s] strong call for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, as did our British and Nordic partners earlier this morning. We must all work towards this goal without delay, false pretenses, or dilatory tactics,” Macron said. 

“Ukraine has already expressed its support for such a ceasefire nearly two months ago. I now expect Russia to do the same. Failing to do so, we are ready to respond firmly, together with all Europeans and in close coordination with the United States,” he added, without specifying how the West might respond if Russia fails to comply. 

Macron referred to Kyiv’s agreement to a US-brokered 30-day unconditional ceasefire in March after Kyiv’s talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia, a proposal that Zelensky proposed once again in recent weeks in response to Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s three-day unilateral truce this week. 

Other Topics of Interest

The Illusion of a Peace Deal for Ukraine

Anyone who believes Russia is serious about negotiating a peace deal with Ukraine need only look at what Moscow says to be disabused. For those who consider Zelensky to be the one who is obstreperously rejecting reasonable compromises, let them lay out a point-by-point plan of what they and Russia see as the path towards ending this war. I’ll wager nobody can.

Zelensky called Putin’s truce “more of a theatrical performance” and suggested that Moscow could agree to its unconditional 30-day ceasefire if it is sincere, but Moscow dismissed the plan by claiming that it is “impossible without resolving all the nuances.”

Despite Putin’s unilateral truce, Ukraine has recorded attacks across the front after it came into effect, with Kyiv’s foreign minister calling it a “farce.” 

Following the Saudi talks in March, Kyiv and Moscow had ostensibly agreed to brief, limited ceasefires on the Black Sea and energy infrastructure. However, Moscow later issued additional conditions on the Black Sea ceasefire, effectively leaving no deal in place. 

As for the energy ceasefire, the different interpretations of the agreement, with no monitoring mechanism, meant it never came to fruition.