After talks with the US President Donald Trump in Washington, French President Emmanuel Macron said that a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia could be achieved in the coming weeks.
This is reported by the BBC.
The American president suggested that the war could end “within weeks” and insisted that Europe must shoulder the costs and burden of any peace deal for Ukraine. Macron, in turn, stressed that the deal “must not be a capitulation of Ukraine” and must be backed by security guarantees.
Emmanuel Macron spoke with 30 other European leaders and allies and, following the discussions, said many of them were ready to participate in security guarantees for Ukraine. Macron also worked with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on a proposal to send troops to Ukraine.
"Not to go to the front line, not to go into confrontation, but to be in certain places designated by the treaty to maintain this peace and our collective trust with the support of the United States," the French president explained.
According to the French leader, Trumpʼs second presidency "changed the rules of the game".
Trump said he wanted a ceasefire as soon as possible, and added that he would visit Russia to meet with Putin as soon as that goal could be achieved.
Macron, however, insisted on a more measured approach — a ceasefire first, followed by a peace agreement that would include clear guarantees for Ukraine’s long-term defense.
Both agreed that any peace deal should include the deployment of a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine, something Trump said Putin was not opposed to.
Europeʼs participation in the settlement of the war in Ukraine
After the US President Donald Trump reported that during a phone call with Putin they agreed to immediately begin peace talks, the foreign ministers of Ukraine, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Poland, Germany, and the European Union stressed in a statement that Ukraine and Europe must be part of any negotiations to end the Russian-Ukrainian war.
At the Munich Security Conference, Trumpʼs special envoy Keith Kellogg said that Europe would not be physically at the negotiating table between Russia and Ukraine, but its interests would be taken into account. He added that one of the reasons why previous peace talks failed was that they involved too many countries.
The Axios publication, which revealed the details of the conversation between Zelensky and Trump, noted that the US president supported the idea of deploying European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine — this could become one of the security guarantees.
After that, the AP wrote that a group of European countries were privately working on a plan to send troops to Ukraine to help with post-war security.
The FT noted that the US has asked European countries to provide detailed proposals for the weapons, peacekeeping troops and security measures they could provide to Ukraine as part of any security guarantees.
Switzerland has said it could provide troops for a future peacekeeping mission in Ukraine if a request is received and the government agrees.
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