India, Sept. 24 -- More than 50 UN member states on Monday urged Russia to accept a full and unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine and return to talks aimed at lasting peace, with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen delivering the joint statement at the UN on behalf of countries including the UK, France, Germany, Greece, Canada, North Macedonia, Japan and Ukraine, as well as the EU.

The coordinated diplomatic intervention represents the broadest international consensus yet assembled around Ukraine's specific peace conditions.

The timing proved strategically significant, as the call came as Kyiv marked 35 years since declaring independence from the Soviet Union. By anchoring the appeal to Ukraine's Independence Day, the coalition ...