Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 16, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleEuropean leaders and Zelenskiy find Russia's stance in peace talks unacceptable, with no progress in Istanbul. Coordination with Trump discussed.
TIRANA (Reuters) - The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland agreed on Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Russia's position in peace talks was "unacceptable" and also consulted with U.S. President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.
The first direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in more than three years took place in Istanbul on Friday.
They lasted well under two hours, with no apparent sign of progress so far in narrowing the gap between the sides, and a Ukrainian source called Moscow's demands "non-starters".
Starmer made his comments in a brief joint statement with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at a European Political Community summit in Tirana, Albania.
Starmer said the leaders had met with Zelenskiy - who is also at the summit - to discuss the Istanbul talks and had also had a call with Trump.
"The Russian position is clearly unacceptable, and not for the first time," Starmer said.
"And so as a result of that meeting with President Zelenskiy and the discussion with President Trump, we are now closely aligning and coordinating our responses and will continue to do so," he said.
The leaders did not take any questions from reporters.
(Reporting by Andrew Gray; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Ingrid Melander)
The main topic is the European leaders' and Zelenskiy's agreement that Russia's stance in peace talks is unacceptable.
The talks lasted under two hours with no apparent progress in narrowing the gap between Russia and Ukraine.
They consulted with Ukrainian President Zelenskiy and U.S. President Donald Trump.
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