Macron seeks to align Europe, Ukraine with Trump on peace talks
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French President Emmanuel Macron held the phone calls after convening a mini-summit on Feb 17 in Paris with several European leaders to discuss Ukraine.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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PARIS – Mr Emmanuel Macron held talks separately with Mr Donald Trump and Mr Volodymyr Zelensky on aligning with the US after the French President spearheaded an effort to bring Europe to the table for discussions on ending Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Mr Macron held the phone calls after hastily convening a mini-summit on Feb 17 in Paris with several European leaders to discuss Ukraine and possible ways to boost European defence spending.
This comes after European Union (EU) leaders were shocked by the speed of Mr Trump’s push to begin talks with President Vladimir Putin, with US and Russian officials due to meet in Saudi Arabia this week.
“We seek a strong and lasting peace in Ukraine,” Mr Macron posted on his X social media account. “To achieve this, Russia must end its aggression, and this must be accompanied by strong and credible security guarantees for the Ukrainians.”
“We will work on this together with all Europeans, Americans and Ukrainians,” he added. “This is the key.”
Mr Macron said he would hold further discussions and work would continue “both in supporting Ukraine and in developing and investing in our defence”. Last week at the Munich Security Conference, US officials said in stark terms there is a limit to how much Washington is prepared to do militarily in Europe.
Mr Zelensky said he discussed the state of affairs in Europe with Mr Macron and security guarantees for his country.
“We share a common vision: Security guarantees must be robust and reliable,” the Ukrainian leader said. “Any other decision without such guarantees – such as a fragile ceasefire – would only serve as another deception by Russia and a prelude to a new Russian war against Ukraine or other European nations.”
Ukraine and European leaders have been trying to work their way into the process to end Russia’s full-scale assault on its neighbour that started about three years ago.
With the US intent on moving at a rapid pace, Europe risks being sidelined from negotiations that could ultimately determine the security balance on the continent for years to come if it does not quickly come up with a tangible plan.
European officials and Kyiv have both said they want allies to agree to security guarantees before talking to Russia, and Ukraine will not agree to anything it is not involved in negotiating.
The US has asked European nations to spell out what security guarantees they are willing to provide Ukraine to ensure a lasting peace settlement and how allies should react if any troops they deploy were attacked by Russia.
The Trump administration is seeking details on how European allies could contribute to guarantees for Kyiv and deter Moscow in the future, according to documents seen by Bloomberg News. BLOOMBERG
