The leaders of France, Britain, Germany and Italy spoke by phone with US President Donald Trump on Sunday, ahead of his talks today with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a bid to end the conflict in Ukraine, the British government said.

The heads of state and government “discussed the situation in Ukraine and the catastrophic cost of the war to both sides,” an unnamed spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.

“Ahead of President Trump’s phone call with President Putin (on Monday), the leaders discussed the need for an unconditional ceasefire and the need for President Putin to take peace negotiations seriously,” he added.

Following the failed talks between Kiev and Moscow in Turkey on Friday, the heads of state and government “also discussed the use of sanctions if Russia does not seriously engage in a ceasefire and peace talks,” the British government said.

“It is up to President Putin to prove on Monday that he really wants peace and to accept the unconditional 30-day ceasefire proposed by President Trump, supported by Ukraine and Europe,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on the X platform.

“Europeans and Americans are determined to work together in a targeted way to quickly end this terrible war,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday after the first mass by the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV.

Merz added that “some small steps forward have been made in recent days, as the parties to the conflict are talking to each other.”

The German chancellor said this two days after the first talks since spring 2022, which did not result in a ceasefire.

The French, British and German leaders already spoke with Trump on Friday, as well as with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with US Vice President JD Vance in Rome on Sunday “for about half an hour” after meeting with the Pope, an unidentified senior Ukrainian official told AFP.