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EUROPEAN COUNTRIES HAVE agreed to ramp up rather than lift sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine at a summit in Paris today, as France and Britain began sketching out plans to send a “reassurance” force after any peace.
But a peace deal still appears far off, with the meeting of European heads of state and government also underlining differences within the “coalition of the willing”, with not all states signing onto the French-British plan to deploy troops postwar.
French President Emmanuel Macron hosted the meeting of Ukraine’s European allies and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the latest effort to agree a coordinated policy after Donald Trump shocked Europe by opening direct talks with the Kremlin.
The US has claimed tentative progress towards a ceasefire to end the three-year conflict sparked by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
These renewed meetings are partly to prove to the US that Europe is playing its part in resolving the conflict, and partly because the Trump administration has refused to provide guarantees to Ukraine and refused to approve their admission to NATO.
“He really wants to divide Europe and America, Putin really wants that,” Zelenskyy said after the summit, adding Kyiv wants Washington to be “stronger” towards the Kremlin.
He warned “everybody understood and understands that today Russia does not want any kind of peace”.
Yesterday, Russia and Ukraine agreed on the contours of a possible ceasefire in the Black Sea in separate talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia.
No time frame for the potential peace deal has been given yet.
Some 31 countries, including NATO allies, EU member states, and non-EU countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Norway were in attendance at the Elysée Palace in Paris. Taoiseach Micheál Martin was also in attendance.
There appeared to be consensus around the table at the Elysee Palace that sanctions imposed against Russia should not be weakened, and rather intensified, until there is peace.
“There was complete clarity that now is not the time for the lifting of sanctions, quite the contrary – what we discussed is how we can increase sanctions to support the US initiative to bring Russia to the table,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said alongside Zelenskyy.
In a separate briefing, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said lifting sanctions would be a “grave mistake” and “makes no sense” without a truce.
Zelenskyy criticised “very dangerous signals” on that possibility, pointing especially to Saudi Arabia.
Ruling out the lifting of sanctions on Russia, Macron said that Europe must place Ukraine “in the best possible position to negotiate” in order to “win peace”.
As well as boosting Ukraine’s own armed forces, a key pillar of ensuring security and preventing further Russian invasions could be to deploy European troops to Ukraine, although until now it has been far from clear how this could happen.
Speaking after the summit meeting, Macron said that France and Britain were leading efforts to send a “reassurance force” to Ukraine after any end to the fighting.
“It does not have unanimity today, but we do not need unanimity to do this,” he added, saying a Franco-British delegation would head to Ukraine in the coming days for talks.
Macron emphasised that members of such a force would not be peacekeepers, deployed on the front line or any kind of substitute for the Ukrainian army.
He also said that not all of Ukraine’s European allies would be represented in the force, with some states not “having the capacity” and some reluctant due to the “political context”.
The Franco-British delegation would begin talks over where such a force could be deployed.
It would have the “character of deterrence against any potential Russian aggression”, he said.
Macron added that the summit agreed that he and Starmer would together “co-pilot” Europe’s ‘coalition of action’ for stable and durable peace”.
But Zelenskyy struck a more downbeat note, warning that “there are many questions” but “so far, there are few answers” about the force, who would lead it and what it can do.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has long made clear her reserves over the troop deployment plan, said she hoped the United States will be involved in the next European meeting on Ukraine.
She repeated her position that in Rome’s case, “no national participation in a possible military force on the ground is planned”.
Meloni’s office said lasting peace requires not only continued support for Ukraine but also “solid and credible security guarantees” that “must be founded in the Euro-Atlantic context”, and could “partly follow what is provided for in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty”.
Under NATO’s Article 5 provision, an attack on one member is considered an attack against all.
Elsewhere, Starmerhailed the summit as “Europe mobilising together behind the peace process on a scale that we haven’t seen for decades, backed by partners from around the world.”
He said that discussions were held about “military and operational” plans to support any ceasefire and peace in Ukraine, “whether on land, in the air or at sea.”
France, the UK, and Ukraine are also said to be preparing a peace treaty to present to the US, likely to be discussed at the summit today.
Ukraine has offered through the US a 30-day ceasefire, but Russia has so far failed to respond, with the European allies growing all the more impatient.
Underscoring how far apart the sides remain, Ukraine today accused Russia of violating a US-brokered agreement to refrain from targeting energy infrastructure with an artillery strike that caused a power outage in the city of Kherson.
The Ukrainian army meanwhile rejected Russian claims it had itself targeted energy sites.
“I think there should be a reaction from the US,” Zelenskyy told reporters in Paris, saying that energy facilities had been damaged in a strike Thursday and that it was “unclear who is monitoring” the pledges to halt such strikes.
Today’s meeting comes after the White House said Russia and Ukraine had agreed on the contours of a possible ceasefire in the Black Sea, during parallel talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia.
In a statement ahead of the summit, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said a “key component” of the gathering in Paris was to ensure that Ukraine is “in the strongest possible position” when entering negotiations.
“We will reflect on ongoing efforts towards a meaningful ceasefire, how we can support that ceasefire if and when it comes, and how we can contribute to bringing about a just and lasting peace that respects Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Martin said.
He added that Ireland will continue to support Ukraine, including through an additional €100 million for non-lethal military assistance recently approved by the government.
“We are ready to play our part in supporting any ceasefire and peace arrangements, in full keeping with our policy of military neutrality,” Martin said.
“That could include Irish involvement in any mandated peacekeeping mission deployed in support of a ceasefire, or it could involve further training under the EU Military Assistance Mission in areas where we have particular expertise to offer.
Additional reporting from Jane Moore and AFP
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