Leaders from nearly 30 countries and NATO and EU chiefs met in the French capital to discuss bolstering aid to Kyiv and deploying European troops to secure long-term peace.
“Europe knows how to defend itself. We must prove it,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said as European allies gathered in Paris on Thursday to discuss how to strengthen Kyiv’s hand as it pushes for a ceasefire with Russia.
French President Emmanuel Macron hosted the leaders of nearly 30 countries as well as NATO and EU chiefs. The top leaders considered proposals to deploy peacekeeping troops to Ukraine in tandem with any peace deal, forming a “Coalition of the Willing.”
The summit also hopes to lay the groundwork for long-term security guarantees and turn the Ukrainian army into the first line of defence against any future aggression amid the growing threat from Russia.
Efforts to build a coalition of countries willing to support the deployment of European armed forces to Ukraine are led by France and the United Kingdom. Their aim is to secure peace by dissuading Russia, whose all-out invasion is in its fourth year, from attacking Ukraine again in the future.
Macron said on Wednesday that the proposed force could deploy to “important towns, strategic bases” in Ukraine and respond to a Russian attack if one was launched.
“If there was again a generalised aggression against Ukrainian soil, these armies would, in fact, be under attack and then it’s our usual framework of engagement,” Macron said.
“Our soldiers, when they are engaged and deployed, are there to react and respond to the decisions of the commander in chief and, if they are in a conflict situation, to respond to it.”
“So we are not on the frontlines, we don’t go to fight, but we are there to guarantee a lasting peace. It’s a pacifist approach,” he said. “The only ones who would, at that moment, trigger a conflict, a bellicose situation, would be the Russians if they decided again to launch an aggression.”
The meeting in Paris came amid intensifying efforts to broker a ceasefire, driven by pressure from US President Donald Trump to end the fighting.
US-brokered agreements to safeguard shipping in the Black Sea and halt strikes on energy infrastructure were greeted as a first step towards peace. However, both Moscow and Kyiv have disagreed over details and accused each other of violations.
Despite the agreement, the conflict rages on. Ukrainian media on Thursday reported that dozens of people had been injured and one person killed over the last day by Russian attacks.
Zelenskyy said the attacks were further evidence that the US and Europe should not ease sanctions on Moscow.
