UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Ukraine's Western backers are ready to take to the next level their efforts to punish Moscow for continuing Europe's deadliest war in decades and force Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.
Starmer made the statements following a meeting in London with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and members of the the Coalition of the Willing, a grouping of more than 20 nations helping the embattled country.
The meeting comes after months of intense efforts by US President Donald Trump to convince Putin to end his 44-month old war -- the biggest on the continent since World War II -- have failed.
"We've been clear today, that we must respond. Working with the US, this coalition is determined to go further than ever, to ratchet up the pressure on Putin -- from the battlefield to his war economy -- because that is the only way to change his mind and push him back to the table," Starmer told a press conference following the two-hour meeting.
Starmer, who set up the coalition with French President Emmanuel Macron, was joined in person by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Netherland Prime Minister Dick Schoff, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and Zelenskyy. Other leaders participated virtually.
Starmer said the group had agreed on a plan to support Ukraine through the rest of the year that included curtailing Russian energy revenue, tapping Moscow's foreign currency reserves to back loans to Ukraine, and supplying Kyiv with additional air defense as well as long-range missiles.
"I think Putin's strategy has been to wait for us [allies] to stop at some point to give up. But of course, this will never happen," Frederiksen said.
Rutte offered hope that increased pressure on Russia along with the mounting costs of the war would force Putin to the negotiating table.
"The truth is that Putin is running out of money, troops and ideas," he said.
The UK prime minister announced that his country is accelerating plans to deliver 5,000 light-weight multi-role missiles to Ukraine.