The leaders of Ukraine, the United Kingdom, France and Germany emerged from Downing Street on June 7 with a joint statement that lays down five conditions to underpin any sustainable settlement to Russia's war.

The list lays out the core terms of any peace deal before the G7 are due to meet at a summit in Evian and the Nato summit in Ankara.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, President Emmanuel Macron, Chancellor Friedrich Merz and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met in the E3-Ukraine format to reiterate their "unwavering support" for Ukraine and set out next steps in negotiations to support "a just and lasting peace."

They underlined that Europe had an important role to play in any settlement now that the US has fully withdrawn from the process. The leaders said they were clear that all efforts should be conducted in closest cooperation with Ukraine, wider European partners, and the United States.

The statement emphasises that any settlement efforts must be carried out in close coordination with Ukraine, European partners, and the US, and that Europe must play a significant role in the negotiation process.

The five conditions

The joint statement sets out five principles that the four leaders say are prerequisites for any viable settlement.

The first and most fundamental is a complete ceasefire as a precondition for launching any peace process — a demand that rules out the sequencing favoured by some mediators in which negotiations and fighting proceed simultaneously.

The second is that the current front line should serve as the starting point for further negotiations — a formulation that implicitly rules out any demand that Ukraine concede the full territory claimed by Russia before talks begin. In a Sky News interview, Zelenskiy said he would accept freezing the war along current front lines as the quickest path to a ceasefire, while stressing it must lead to diplomacy. Moscow has instead insisted that any settlement would require Ukraine to surrender the entire Donbas and other occupied regions.

The third condition is that once a ceasefire takes effect, Ukraine must receive robust and legally binding security guarantees — including the possible deployment of a multinational force. Those guarantees would build on commitments agreed in Berlin in December 2025 and Paris in January 2026. Starmer has previously said the UK is ready to back the plan with boots on the ground and planes in the air.

The fourth condition is that Russian assets frozen by Western governments will remain immobilised until Moscow ends its aggression and compensates Ukraine for war damages — effectively making the approximately $300bn in frozen Russian central bank assets a long-term leverage instrument rather than a short-term negotiating chip.

The fifth condition is that any decisions involving the EU or Nato — such as Ukraine's membership prospects — must be approved by the member states of those organisations, a formulation that blocks any external actor, including the United States, from making commitments on behalf of the alliance.

The diplomatic context

The summit comes at a moment of unusual diplomatic momentum. The statement closely aligns with an open letter that Zelenskiy sent to Putin on June 4 suggesting the two leaders press forward with direct bilateral peace talks. Moscow has not responded formally to the letter.

The leaders also stressed the need to urgently scale up the production of interceptors, develop joint projects to create anti-ballistic missiles and long-range systems, and ensure the long-term sustainability of Ukraine's armed forces. The importance of utilising Ukraine's combat experience was separately noted. The leaders commended Zelenskiy's call for an end to the war, negotiated by diplomatic means, as set out in his letter to Putin.

The five principles will now be carried into two major upcoming multilateral forums. The G7 summit in Evian is the immediate next staging post, followed by the Nato summit in Ankara on July 7-8 — where the alliance's response to Trump's demand that members spend 5% of GDP on defence will also dominate the agenda. A coalition of the willing meeting is also scheduled in the coming weeks.

The London statement represents the clearest articulation yet of the terms on which Europe would accept — and underwrite — a ceasefire. Whether Russia will accept any of the five conditions is another matter.

The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said last week that American foreign policy under Trump was "largely in line with our vision" — a comment that suggests Moscow is watching for any gap to open between Washington's position and the European proposal.