European leaders tell Putin to agree to Ukraine ceasefire or face new sanctions

France's President Emmanuel Macron, Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hold a trilateral meeting on board a train to Ukraine, in an undisclosed loaction in Ukraine, May 9, 2025. LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS

KYIV (Reuters) -Major European powers threw their weight behind an unconditional 30-day Ukraine ceasefire on Saturday, with the backing of U.S. President Donald Trump, and threatened President Vladimir Putin with "massive" new sanctions if he did not accept within days.

The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Ukraine set the start of the ceasefire for May 12 at a meeting in Kyiv, during which they held a phone call with Trump.