00:00Good morning colleagues. Can I just start by thanking you all for making time for this
00:08important meeting this morning. We've got a lot to discuss because since we last met
00:14in person in London just under two weeks ago, a lot has happened. Now what we see, and this
00:22is centrepiece for our discussions today, is that Putin is the one trying to delay,
00:28and in a sense, and you all know this, if Putin is serious about peace it's very simple. He has
00:36to stop his barbaric attacks on Ukraine and agree to a ceasefire, and the world is watching. My
00:46feeling is that sooner or later he's going to have to come to the table and engage in serious
00:52discussion. But, and this is a big but for us this morning in our meeting, we can't sit back
01:00and simply wait for that to happen. We have to keep pushing ahead, pushing forward, and preparing
01:08for peace, and a peace that will be secure and that will last. And I think that means strengthening
01:17Ukraine so they can defend themselves, and strengthening obviously in terms of military
01:23capability, in terms of funding, in terms of the provision of further support from all of us to
01:29Ukraine. Secondly, being prepared to defend any deal ourselves through a coalition of the willing.
01:37We've begun that process and this morning we can take it forward. And then thirdly, and really
01:43importantly given the developments of the last few days, to keep the pressure on Putin to come
01:48to the table, and I think collectively we've got a number of ways that we can do that.
Comments