US Demands Immediate Ceasefire in Ukraine at UN Security Council

U.S. envoy Dan Negrea on June 8 called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine.

Speaking at the U.N. Security Council, Negrea said that Washington urges “both sides to immediately agree to a comprehensive ceasefire leading to a negotiated end to the war,” adding that the “cycle of retaliation, escalation, violence, and death must stop.”

Negrea, the U.S. representative to the U.N. Economic and Social Council, said it was unfortunate that talks held so far have not “produced the exchanges and concessions necessary to bring about peace.”

He also called on all U.N. member states to immediately stop support for Moscow’s war effort, saying that “there is no military solution to this war.”

“As [U.S. Secretary of State Marco] Rubio made plain last week, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a strategic disaster,” he said. “Its oil refineries are ablaze, and Russia is now losing 5,000 people per month. Moscow cannot achieve its goals on the battlefield. Escalation will not change that and only risks making the disaster worse. This war must end now. Enough is enough.”

Negrea specifically singled out Iran for allegedly providing Russia with drones used in Ukraine, and Cuba, which he said is “prolonging the war by allowing thousands of mercenaries to fight on Russia’s behalf.”

He added that the United States “remains ready as ever—as we have repeatedly told both sides—to facilitate a durable end to this war.”

Negrea’s comments came a day after the leaders of the UK, France, and Germany said that they support Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s call for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to achieve a ceasefire.

UK, France, Germany Call for Negotiations

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and French President Emmanuel Macron issued a joint statement after meeting with Zelenskyy in London on June 7, saying that any effort to reach a ceasefire deal with Russia should include active participation from Europe and the United States.

They outlined five conditions for reaching a lasting peace deal between the two nations, starting with “an immediate and complete ceasefire” and using the current line of contact as the starting point for negotiations.

The leaders emphasized that international borders cannot be altered through the use of force, and that Russia must respect Ukraine’s right “to choose its own security arrangements and alliances.”

Other conditions include granting Ukraine “robust and legally binding security guarantees” once a ceasefire is in force, keeping Russian assets immobilized until the war ends and Russia compensates Ukraine for war-related damages, and ensuring that European security interests are protected in any settlement reached.

Zelenskyy Wants to Meet Putin

That meeting came after Zelenskyy published an open letter to Putin on June 4 proposing that the two leaders meet to agree an end to the war.

In the letter, posted on Ukraine’s official presidential website, Zelenskyy said that with the United States focused on the conflict in Iran, he was proposing a meeting because “it would be wrong to simply wait until the war in Europe returns to the center of its attention.”

“The front line today is the line from which diplomacy must begin,” he wrote, adding that Ukraine is “ready for a full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations. This is standard practice.”

He said the United States “has the capability to monitor a ceasefire along the line where hostilities stop.”

Zelenskyy proposed setting a date for a meeting and said several countries had “traditionally hosted leaders to resolve issues of war and peace,” citing Switzerland, Turkey, and “countries of the Arab world,” saying they should not meet in either Russia or Ukraine.

Putin responded to the letter in comments at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, a day after it was published, describing it as “containing elements of rudeness” and saying that he doesn’t “see the point in meeting.”

The Russian leader said he believes that Kyiv only wants the negotiations and ceasefire to halt the advance of the Russian Armed Forces, saying that the leaders of Germany and France had once declared that the Minsk agreements of 2014 and 2015 were “an empty story” and were only needed to buy time for Ukraine to re-arm, Russia’s state-owned news agency TASS reported.

“Why do we need such ‘agreements’? Well, I don’t see the point in meeting. The only point is for the Ukrainian side—to stop the advance of our armed forces. That’s all,” Putin said.

Ukraine Makes Battlefield Gains

Ukraine’s armed forces have recaptured more than 230 square miles of territory in 2026, the country’s top military commander said, following reports that Kyiv is maintaining momentum in its war with Russia.

Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a June 8 post on Telegram that the Ukrainian military had regained almost 40 square miles in May.

“Despite the constant pressure of the enemy, the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to steadfastly hold the defense, destroy the occupiers, and deliver effective strikes against the enemy in its operational and strategic depth,” Syrskyi said.

Aldgra Fredly, Owen Evans, and Victoria Friedman contributed to this report.