Europeans to pressure Russia with sanctions, Germany says

BERLIN (Reuters) -European leaders agreed to increase pressure on Russia through sanctions after U.S. President Donald Trump briefed them on his call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said late on Monday.

U.S. President Donald Trump held calls on Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the leaders of the European Union, France, Italy, Germany and Finland in an attempt to bring the war in Ukraine to an end.

Trump said after the call that Russia and Ukraine will immediately start ceasefire negotiations in the three-year-old conflict, but he did not appear to secure major concessions in his two-hour phone call with the Kremlin leader.

"Europe and America are very united on this: We will closely support Ukraine on its path toward a ceasefire," Merz said in a post on X.

"Europe will increase the pressure on Moscow through sanctions. This is what we agreed upon with @POTUS after his conversation with Putin."

Kyiv and its European allies have been pressing Moscow for an unconditional ceasefire in the war.

Russia, which is slowly but steadily advancing on the battlefield in Ukraine, has said previously that it was concerned that Ukraine will use such a pause to regroup and re-arm.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Monday that Putin and Trump had not discussed a timeline for a ceasefire in Ukraine, but that Trump had stressed his interest in reaching agreements quickly.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke, writing by Andrew Gray; Editing by GV De Clercq and Cynthia Osterman)

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