About 30 leaders, mostly European, gather on Thursday (4) with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about future security guarantees for Kiev if there will be a ceasefire with Russia, hoping that they have done enough to persuade the United States to support their efforts.
The face -to -face and virtual summit of the “coalition of the wills” brings together leaders mainly from Europe, but also from Türkiye, Australia and Canada.
Countries have been talking for months at various levels to define military contributions to Ukraine in order to help Russia prevent Russia from attacking the country again as soon as there is a definitive truce.
But these efforts were recently paralyzed, as governments said any European military role would need US safety guarantees. President Donald Trump has not explicitly committed to providing them.
French President Emmanuel Macron said alongside Zelensky in Paris on Wednesday (3), that coalition leaders would endorse the plans on Thursday for security guarantees completed by their military.
Two European authorities stated that detailed “technical” plans were completed without specifying what it really means.
“We are ready, we Europeans to provide safety guarantees to Ukraine,” Macron said. “This allows us to firmly affirm that we are ready for solid peace for Ukraine and Europeans, but the question now is to see the sincerity of Russia.”
The two European authorities said the goal would be to send a political signal to Trump.
This would highlight the lack of progress towards direct peace negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Zelensky since AE would lead the American to increase the pressure on Moscow now.
The heads of the British and French armies, who maintained detailed meetings last week with their coalition counterparts, are expected to present a briefing to the leaders on Thursday (4), according to a note sent to the Reuters news agency.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Wednesday he expects clarity about what may be delivered soon.
“This means that we can involve even more intensely, also with the American side, to see what they want to deliver in terms of their participation in security guarantees,” Rutte told reporters at a press conference.
