European leaders issue statement backing Trump's Ukraine ceasefire position

Leaders of European nations, including Britain, France, Germany, Ukraine, and the European Union on Tuesday issued a joint statement setting out support for Ukraine and U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to end the fighting there.

"We strongly support President Trump's position that the fighting should stop immediately, and that the current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations," the statement, published by the British government said.

"We must ramp up the pressure on Russia's economy and its defence industry, until Putin is ready to make peace. We are developing measures to use the full value of Russia's immobilised sovereign assets so that Ukraine has the resources it needs."