Paris:
Sceptic about the US rush to strike a peace deal with Russia, European leaders met for an informal summit on Monday, where they reiterated their continuing support for Ukraine and vowed to continue their joint support for Kyiv in the face of Moscow’s invasion. However, they failed to provide any new security guarantees that could make a difference amid US President Donald Trump’s push to launch negotiations with Russia.
Mr Trump’s approach to ending the war in Ukraine has left its European allies and officials in Kyiv worried they are being largely sidelined by the new US administration as Washington and Moscow plan direct negotiations. Their fears were heightened by a rare meeting expected on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia between the top diplomats from Russia and the United States.
Mr Trump is sending Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and special envoy Steve Witkoff to Saudi Arabia for talks with Russian counterparts, according to a report by the Associated Press.
It is unclear to what extent Ukrainian or European officials will be represented in discussions expected to take place in Riyadh.
Mr Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, said on Saturday Europe would not have a seat at the negotiating table. Instead, Washington sent a questionnaire to European capitals to ask what they could contribute to security guarantees for Kyiv, and who was ready to deploy troops.
European Worries
Europe has majorly relied on a security umbrella provided by the United States since World War II. But with Mr Trump in the White House, who does not prioritise relations either with European partners or their defence, Europe needs to come up with a united front on security spending and Ukraine’s future
Depending on the parameters of the Washington-Moscow talks over Ukraine, and how emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin feels by them, there is also a European fear this could end up changing their continent’s security architecture.
Mr Putin has historically resented the spread of NATO eastwards. Russian neighbours – the tiny, former Soviet Baltic States and also Poland – now feel particularly exposed amid the current scenario.
French newspaper Le Monde said the rupture between Europe and the United States was “historic”, but added that Europe had to show its capacity to ensure its own defence.
“European blindness came to an abrupt end in Munich. From now on, the security of the continent depends essentially on the Europeans themselves, and on their ability to maintain their unity,” it added.
Talks In France
The informal summit in Paris among European leaders concluded without any concrete announcement, as the idea of deploying peacekeeping troops to Ukraine remains highly divisive, with France and Britain pushing for security guarantees and Germany bristling at suggestions troops could be deployed.
During the meeting attended by representatives of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, NATO, and the European Union (EU), leaders weighed measures including ramping up defence spending to be less dependent on the US, providing security guarantees to Kyiv, and sending troops to Ukraine as peacekeepers in the event of a ceasefire.
After the talks, French President Emmanuel Macron held telephone talks with both President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he said early Tuesday, calling for “strong and credible security guarantees” for Ukraine so that a peace deal does not end up like the 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements that failed to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Mr Zelenskyy later said he and Mr Macron shared a “common vision” for how to achieve peace, including that “security guarantees must be robust and reliable,” he said on social media after the call.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “prepared to consider committing British forces on the ground alongside others if there is a lasting peace agreement.”
But he insisted Washington had to be involved, saying “there must be a US backstop because a US security guarantee is the only way to effectively deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again.”
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen also said “Ukraine deserves peace through strength” and this should be “respectful of its independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, with strong security guarantees”.
“Ready and willing,” was how NATO chief Mark Rutte described Europe’s position after the meeting. “The details will need to be decided but the commitment is clear.”
But after the talks, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who faces an election on Sunday, said that any debate on sending peacekeepers to Ukraine was “completely premature” and “highly inappropriate” while the war was ongoing.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said her government was “open-minded” on the issue of troops but warned a key question was if the United States was “going to back up on Europe” if troops were sent.
Russia is “threatening all Europe now”, she added, warning the US against attempts to agree a “fast” ceasefire that would give Russia the chance to “mobilise again, attack Ukraine or another country in Europe”.
US-Russia Talks In Saudi
Senior US and Russian officials will reportedly meet in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. The talks will be the highest-level in-person discussions in years between Russian and American officials and are meant to precede a meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Putin. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio set off for Riyadh with national security adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, while the Kremlin said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov would take part.
As fighting rages on, with Russia making slow but steady advances, Lavrov ruled out ceding any of the 20 per cent of Ukraine it now controls.
Ukrainian President, visiting the United Arab Emirates, dismissed the talks in Saudi Arabia. “Ukraine regards any negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine as ones that have no result, and we cannot recognise … any agreements about us, without us,” he told reporters.