Europeans must do more for collective security: French presidency

PARIS – The French presidency said on Feb 16 that European countries should do more for their collective security, ahead of a top-level meeting in Paris to address growing concerns over US efforts to end the Ukraine war.

“Because of the acceleration of the Ukrainian issue, and as a result of what US leaders are saying, there is a need for Europeans to do more, better and in a coherent way, for our collective security,” an adviser from President Emmanuel Macron’s office said.

Key European leaders are to meet in Paris on Feb 17

to discuss “the situation in Ukraine” and “security in Europe”, according to the French presidency.

The heads of government of Germany, Britain, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark are expected at the meeting ahead of the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24.

Mr Antonio Costa, who heads the European Council representing the European Union’s 27 nations, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, and Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte will also be present.

US President Donald Trump blindsided Ukraine and its European backers last week by starting discussions on Russia’s invasion in a call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

On Feb 16, the US leader said he could meet Mr Putin “very soon”.

Addressing reporters after a flight on Air Force One, Mr Trump said his team have been speaking “long and hard” with Russian officials, including his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, whom the President said met Mr Putin for about three hours recently.

“I think he wants to stop fighting,” Mr Trump said of his Russian counterpart.

Asked whether he believes Mr Putin wants to seize the entirety of Ukraine, Mr Trump said: “That was my question to him.

“If he’s going to go on... that would have caused me a big problem.

“I think he wants to end it, and they want to end it fast. Both of them.”

He added: “Zelensky wants to end it too.”

The new US administration has also warned its Nato allies that Europe will no longer be its top security priority and that it may shift forces too as it switches focus to China.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Feb 16 said he believes Russia is preparing to “wage war” against a weakened Nato should Mr Trump dilute US support for the alliance.

He also called Mr Putin a serial liar and said he could not be trusted as a negotiating partner in an interview with NBC broadcast on the same day.

But Mr Trump appeared to dismiss Mr Zelensky’s remarks, telling reporters he was “not even a little bit” concerned about the Ukrainian leader’s messaging.

The Kremlin has pushed for negotiations – set to kick off in Saudi Arabia in the coming days – to discuss not just the Ukraine war as it nears a third anniversary but also broader European security.

That has sparked fears among European nations that Mr Putin could revive demands he floated prior to the 2022 invasion aimed at limiting Nato forces in Eastern Europe and US involvement on the continent.

Russia back in G-7 ‘unimaginable’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio played down expectations on Feb 16 of any breakthrough at upcoming talks with Russian officials on ending the war in Ukraine.

“A process towards peace is not a one-meeting thing,” he told the CBS network as the Munich Security Conference wrapped up.

“Nothing’s been finalised yet,” he said, adding that the aim was to seek an opening for a broader conversation that “would include Ukraine and would involve the end of the war”.

He is heading to Saudi Arabia on Feb 17, as part of a Middle East tour he started last week in Israel.

Mr Zelensky said on Feb 16 that he was in the United Arab Emirates for a visit with a “large humanitarian programme”. He said on Feb 14 that he had no plans to meet with Russian or US officials there.

Mr Trump last week also said he would “love” to have Russia back in the Group of Seven (G-7), from which it was suspended in 2014 after Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said it was “unimaginable” for Russia to be welcomed back into the G-7, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States.

“The G-7 is the group of the most advanced great democracies,” he added. Yet Russia “behaves less and less like a democracy and unabashedly attacks other G7 members”.

European ‘input’

Mr Zelensky had on Feb 16 called for the creation of a European army, arguing the continent could no longer count on Washington.

He said there should be “no decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine” or “about Europe without Europe”.

Mr Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Mr Keith Kellogg, on Feb 16 said

Europe would not be directly involved in talks on Ukraine

, though it would still have an “input”.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has appeared to rule out Ukraine joining Nato or retaking all of its territory lost since 2014.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb, whose country shares a 1,300km border with Russia, said on Feb 16 that talks between the US and Russia over the Ukraine war must not rewrite European security.

“There’s no way in which we should open the door for this Russian fantasy of a new, indivisible security order,” he added. AFP