By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal
LONDON (AA) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the leaders of France, Germany and the US on Monday condemned Russia’s “barbaric action and expressed their ongoing solidarity with the people of Ukraine,” said a statement from Johnson’s office.
“They discussed the military and political situation on the ground and agree that any future negotiations on Ukraine’s future would have to put the needs and wishes of Ukrainians first,” it said.
Johnson and the other leaders “agreed to continue to apply pressure on Russia to isolate (Russian President Vladimir) Putin diplomatically and economically.”
He also “stressed that our goal must be ensuring Putin’s failure in this act of aggression against Ukraine,” the statement said.
Johnson and US and French presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz “agreed to continue meeting in this format in the days ahead.”
Johnson also hosted his Canadian and Dutch counterparts in London on Monday.
He will meet with the leaders of the Visegrad Group, a cultural and political alliance of four countries of Central Europe -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger.
The leaders are expected to discuss Ukraine and European security as well as energy and cybersecurity.
Russia's war on Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, has drawn international condemnation, led to financial sanctions on Moscow, and spurred an exodus of global firms from Russia. The West has also imposed biting export restrictions on key technologies that are now prohibited from being sent to Russia.
At least 406 civilians have been killed and 801 others injured in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, according to UN figures. But the international body has maintained that conditions on the ground have made it "difficult to verify" the true number of civilian casualties.
More than 1.7 million people have also fled to neighboring countries, the UN Refugee Agency said.