Russian TV propagandists have raged against the UK and Europe, warning their “cities will burn” if they continue to support Ukraine in the war against Vladimir Putin. Sir Keir Starmer, along with the French, German and Polish leaders, met with President Zelensky in Ukraine on Saturday to demand an end to the war.
Allied leaders made “material progress” towards a ceasefire in Ukraine, the Prime Minister said, as the pressure has been upped on Russia to accept a 30-day unconditional truce. Sir Keir said that European allies “together with the US” are “calling Putin out” and pledged to ramp up sanctions further if he “turns his back on peace”.
But speaking on Russian television in response to the Western demands, TV presenter and Putin mouthpiece Vladimir Solovyov raged Russia will “destroy all of you”.
Solovyov ranted: “We will destroy your cities if you get involved in this war, and right now you are positioning yourselves as participants in this war, we will destroy all of you.
“Your cities will burn and suffer the way the cities of Donbas (a region in Ukraine) are suffering.”
Continuing his diatribe, Solovyov added: “Man was created for war, and a Russian man was created for a victory. I want this to get into the head of every foreigner: we will win.”
Fellow presenter Margarita Simonyan branded Western nations “fascists” and said Russia would “grind them 100%”.
Meanwhile in Kyiv, Sir Keir, along with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, paid tribute at a makeshift memorial to killed Ukrainian soldiers.
They also held a virtual call with other leaders across the globe involved in the coalition looking to support peace in Ukraine.
Speaking at a press conference of all five leaders on Saturday, the Prime Minister said “all of us here, together with the US, are calling (Russian President) Putin out”.
He said that if the Russian president is “serious” about peace then “he has a chance to show it now by extending the VE Day pause into a full, unconditional 30-day ceasefire”.
Sir Keir added: “No more ifs and buts, no more conditions and delays.”