European leaders discuss Ukraine issue

At the suggestion of French President Macron, leaders of many European countries held an emergency meeting in Paris, the capital of France, on the 17th to discuss issues such as the situation in Ukraine and European collective security.

Attending the meeting that day were leaders of France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Poland and other countries, as well as European Council President Costa, European Commission President von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Rutte. The meeting lasted about 3 hours. After the meeting, von der Leyen posted on social media that peace should be based on respect for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and provide strong security guarantees. Europe should provide military assistance to Ukraine, and European defense must be strengthened.

According to French media reports, the biggest disagreement at the meeting that day was whether to send troops to Ukraine under the framework of peacekeeping. British Prime Minister Starmer said that Britain is ready to send ground troops if necessary. Germany and Spain are opposed. In an interview with the media after the meeting, German Chancellor Scholz said that it is “too early” to discuss this issue at this stage, and he does not want to “impose a forced peace on Ukraine.”

According to the news released by the French presidential palace on the same day, Macron had a telephone conversation with US President Trump before the emergency meeting. The call lasted about 20 minutes, and the two leaders agreed to talk again soon. But the presidential palace did not disclose the content of the conversation.

Recently, Trump had phone calls with Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Zelensky, and said that the United States and Russia agreed to “closely cooperate” on ending the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and send their respective teams to “start negotiations immediately.” Trump said on the 16th that he would meet with Putin in Saudi Arabia “soon.” Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said on the 17th that he would go to the Saudi capital Riyadh and hold talks with US representatives on the 18th.

The possibility of separate negotiations between the United States and Russia has caused Europe to worry that it will be excluded from the Ukrainian peace process.