Kyiv’s European allies are ready to contribute to security guarantees for Ukraine after any peace deal with Russia, and are now awaiting tangible American support, President Emmanuel Macron’s office said Tuesday.
Ahead of a meeting of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky with allies in Paris on Thursday, an Élysée Palace official said that “we are ready” and that Europeans were now hoping to also obtain “the support of the Americans to guarantee Ukraine’s security”.
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A so-called Coalition of the Willing, counting some 30 countries, intends to provide support to Ukraine’s military and possibly deploy some of its own soldiers to Ukraine when and if a ceasefire is agreed. The deployment would aim to deter future Russian aggression.
According to a French diplomatic source, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and his US counterpart Marco Rubio, in a telephone call on Tuesday, “stressed the good existing cooperation in the Coalition of the Willing” ahead of Thursday’s meeting.
A US state department spokesman said the two ministers “agreed to continue cooperation in diplomatic efforts to bring the Russia-Ukraine war to an end through a negotiated settlement with measures in place to secure a lasting peace.”
Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are to jointly chair Thursday’s meeting.
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An Élysée official said: “We now have enough contributions to be able to say to the Americans that we are ready to take our responsibilities as long as they take on theirs – meaning giving European partners a ‘backstop.’”
That backstop could involve different aspects, including intelligence, logistic support and communications. But US President Donald Trump has ruled out any American troops on the ground.
Trump has been trying, so far in vain, to organize a summit between President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky, after having rolled out the red carpet for the Russian leader in Alaska last month.
On Tuesday, Trump said he was “very disappointed” in Putin for failing to move towards a peace deal on Ukraine.
The United States will have a representative in Thursday’s meeting, Macron’s office said, without giving details.
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