Number 10 fixer helped Jonathan Powell dealer Ukraine ceasefire talks | EUROtoday

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Sir Keir Starmer’s nationwide safety adviser Jonathan Powell helped to dealer the 30-day ceasefire proposal accepted by Volodymyr Zelensky, as Britain makes an attempt to behave as a bridge between the US and Ukraine.

The No 10 fixer travelled to Kyiv over the weekend to satisfy with Mr Zelensky and assist draft the proposal, which included a short lived pause in combating earlier than confidence constructing measures comparable to a prisoner-of-war change.

It comes amid a concerted European effort, led by Sir Keir, during the last week to revive good working relations between the US and Ukraine.

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Sources informed the BBC Mr Powell labored carefully along with his US counterpart Mike Waltz, in addition to German and French officers to get the settlement over the road, a breakthrough which was later hailed by Sir Keir as “remarkable”.

“As both American and Ukrainian delegations have said, the ball is now in the Russian court. Russia must now agree to a ceasefire and an end to the fighting too,” Sir Keir added.

Meanwhile, The Independent understands overseas secretary David Lammy spoke along with his US counterpart Marco Rubio and the Ukrainian overseas minister on Monday forward of Tuesday’s talks.

Mr Powell, who negotiated the controversial Chagos deal earlier this autumn, previously served as Tony Blair’s chief of workers, a place which noticed him play a key function within the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

It comes because the PM makes an attempt to behave as a bridge between Europe and the United States after urging Mr Trump to not freeze Ukraine out of peace talks with Vladimir Putin over the warfare.

On Tuesday it was introduced that Ukraine has accepted Donald Trump’s proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia throughout crunch talks in Saudi Arabia.

After greater than eight hours of negotiations in Jeddah between US and Ukrainian officers, there was recent optimism that peace talks had been again on monitor after final month’s disastrous assembly between the US president and Mr Zelensky.

Washington has restored army support and intelligence sharing to Kyiv and Mr Trump has stated Mr Zelensky would “absolutely” be invited again to the White House, lower than two weeks after the pair’s extraordinary Oval Office conflict.

In a joint assertion between the 2 nations, Ukraine stated it “expressed readiness to accept the US proposal to enact an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire, which can be extended by mutual agreement of the parties, and which is subject to acceptance and concurrent implementation by the Russian Federation”.

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The assertion added: “The United States will immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine.”

Mr Zelensky, who was in Saudi Arabia however didn’t take part within the talks, stated the ceasefire was a “positive proposal” that covers the entrance line within the battle, not simply combating by air and sea.

It follows a gathering of army chiefs in Paris on Tuesday, geared toward thrashing out commitments for what Sir Keir dubbed the “coalition of the willing”: the group of countries that need to lead peacekeeping forces in Ukraine ought to a deal be struck.

And on Wednesday, defence secretary John Healey will meet his counterparts from France, Germany, Italy and Poland in Paris to debate joint work on build up Europe’s deterrent in opposition to Russia.

Downing Street and the Foreign Office have been contacted for remark.