European Leaders Meet for Latest Round of Ukraine Talks
Reporting from Paris
European leaders began meeting on Tuesday in Paris for the latest round of talks on peace for Ukraine, focusing on security commitments for the country in a potential cease-fire with Russia.
National leaders and representatives of more than 30 countries gathered at the Élysée Palace for the meeting of the so-called Coalition of the Willing to also discuss how a potential cease-fire would be monitored, and what steps they would commit to take if Russia breached it.
Among the attendees were President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The French hosts took their presence as a sign of an American commitment to a Ukraine security plan, after a tumultuous year in which Mr. Trump proved fickle and at times even hostile to Europe and Ukraine.
The presence of Trump administration advisers is complicated somewhat by the U.S. military raid on Venezuela and the capture of Nicolás Maduro, the country’s former authoritarian leader. Ukrainians have been divided about whether to celebrate his apprehension because he is an ally of Russia or to condemn the military intervention.
Mr. Trump’s subsequent threat to seize the semiautonomous Danish territory of Greenland, made on Air Force One and then reinforced by a top aide, similarly risked overshadowing the meeting. “It has stirred very strong emotions across Europe,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland said Tuesday, according to the state-owned Polish Press Agency, before making his way to Paris from Warsaw. He added, “NATO would lose its meaning.”
As for Ukraine, any cease-fire appears remote for now because Russia is not involved in the negotiations. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has expressed more skepticism about the peace talks in recent days. “I understand that we are very close to results, but at some point, Russia may block everything,” he has said.
Tuesday’s meeting comes 11 months after President Emmanuel Macron of France hastily organized European leaders in response to Mr. Trump’s signals that he could withdraw American support for Ukraine while engaging with Russia, leaving Europeans — who view the war on their continent as an existential threat — on the sidelines.
Since then, Europeans leaders and their military chiefs have met many times, working toward a plan to help Ukraine secure any cease-fire or peace with Russia. They have discussed financially and militarily supporting the Ukrainian army and, in some cases, supplying their own troops to Ukraine to help deter a Russian attack. Mr. Zelensky and other European leaders have also worked feverishly to bring the American president on board.
Their efforts have been bumpy. In November, the Americans backed a peace plan that seemed torn from the Russian wish list. It required Ukraine to cede territory, restrict the size of its military and rule out NATO membership, while Russian was not required to make many concessions.
After another flurry of meetings among the Coalition of the Willing members, a new 20-point plan emerged, more in line with Ukrainian and European demands. Mr. Zelensky presented the plan to Mr. Trump in December, and after two recent meetings at Mar-a-Lago, the Ukrainian leader declared the plan was “nearly complete,” although some of the thorniest issues were unresolved.
Mr. Trump, who has stated many times that a peace deal was around the corner, was more circumspect. “It’s possible it doesn’t happen,” he said at the time. “In a few weeks, we’ll know one way or another.”
Mr. Macron hopes Tuesday’s discussions will push the process forward and result in some concrete commitments to support a cease-fire in Ukraine, eventually backed by formal accords.
Mr. Zelensky said following a bilateral meeting with Mr. Macron on Tuesday that the two leaders had discussed bolstering Ukraine’s military defenses. “Diplomacy and real assistance must go hand in hand,” he said on social media.
Also on the agenda in the group talks are technical discussions of how a potential cease-fire would be monitored, and what would define a breach of it. Given the vast border between Russia and Ukraine and the nature of modern warfare, any cease-fire is unlikely to be monitored largely by soldiers on the ground. Instead, drones and satellites will probably be enlisted.
As part of security guarantees for Ukraine, countries would commit to coordinated responses to any clear Russian breach of a cease-fire, a French diplomat said.
Among the expected attendees were 27 heads of government. They included Mr. Zelensky, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada and Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark, who has found herself in the cross-hairs of Mr. Trump’s ambitions to take over Greenland.
A few hours before the meeting began, seven of the leaders gathered in Paris, including Mr. Macron and Ms. Frederiksen, issued a joint statement about Greenland, reiterating that its future was up to its citizens and the Danish government. The statement said that Arctic security was a European priority and must be decided collectively in conjunction with NATO allies, including the United States. “Greenland belongs to its people,” it said.
Lara Jakes contributed reporting from Rome.
Catherine Porter is an international reporter for The Times, covering France. She is based in Paris.
Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine
Divisions on Venezuela: Ukrainian lawmakers and commentators are divided on whether to celebrate the downfall of Nicolás Maduro, the ousted Venezuelan leader and a longtime Russian client, or to condemn a military intervention, as they have asked the world to do since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Ukrainian Politics: President Volodymyr Zelensky is reshuffling his cabinet as a corruption scandal reshapes the political landscape at a pivotal point in peace negotiations.
Security Guarantees for Ukraine: While Kyiv has reported progress in negotiations, major questions remain unresolved about which countries will provide what kind of security for how long.
Vladimir Putin’s Message: The Russian president kept his annual New Year’s Eve address short, speaking only briefly about the fighting in Ukraine with no mention of U.S.-mediated talks on ending the war.
Ukraine’s Troops: After a year of Russian advances, the goal for 2026 is simply to survive, said one officer in eastern Ukraine. “It’s hard to make any plans,” he said.
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