European leaders meet on response to US shift on Ukraine

By AFP - Feb 17,2025 - Last updated at Feb 17,2025

The war in Ukraine will enter its fourth year on February 24 (AFP photo)

PARIS — European leaders were due to meet in Paris on Monday to address Washington's shock policy shift on the war in Ukraine, as Britain declared itself ready to dispatch peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump sidelined Kyiv and its European backers last week when he called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to talk about starting negotiations to end the conflict.

The hastily convened informal summit of European leaders set to start at 4 pm comes after Trump said he could meet Putin "very soon".

Hosted by President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee palace, the meeting is to gather the heads of government of France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark, as well as the heads of the European Council, the European Commission and NATO.

The war in Ukraine is days short of its third anniversary on February 24.

Britain's Keir Starmer said Sunday that he was willing to put "our own troops on the ground if necessary" in response to what he called "a once-in-a-generation moment for the collective security of our continent".

Trump has said he believes Putin genuinely wants to stop fighting in Ukraine, while his administration has warned its NATO allies Europe will no longer be its top security priority.

US defence chief Pete Hegseth also appeared to rule out Ukraine joining NATO or retaking all of its territory lost since 2014.

The meeting will address "the situation in Ukraine" and "security in Europe", the French presidency said.

"Because of the acceleration of the Ukrainian issue, and as a result of what US leaders are saying, there is a need for Europeans to do more, better and in a coherent way, for our collective security," an adviser in Macron's office said.

The Kremlin has pushed for negotiations between US and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia -- expected in the coming days, to discuss not just the Ukraine conflict but also broader European security.

'A leap forward'

European nations fear that Putin could reiterate demands he made prior to the 2022 invasion towards limiting NATO forces in eastern Europe and US involvement on the continent.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday however sought to play down expectations of any breakthrough at upcoming talks with Russian officials.

"A process towards peace is not a one-meeting thing," he told the CBS network.

"Nothing's been finalised yet," he said, adding that the aim was to seek an opening for a broader conversation that "would include Ukraine and would involve the end of the war".

Rubio arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday, as part of a Middle East tour which he started this weekend in Israel.

Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has said Europe would not be directly involved in talks on Ukraine, though it would still have "input".

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Sunday it would fall to Europe to guarantee any peace deal in Ukraine, adding he expected the United States to "revise their level of commitment to NATO, including in terms of geography".

The American policy shift "requires that we truly wake up, and even take a leap forward, to take our place for the security of the European continent", Barrot said.

He told the LCI news channel that talks were already underway, involving notably France, Britain and Poland, to guarantee a future ceasefire and "lasting peace" in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had on Saturday called for the creation of a European army, arguing the continent could no longer count on Washington.

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