France, allies 'united' on Ukraine

French President Macron urges Ukraine's rights be included in any peace deal with Russia.

PARIS:

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said France and its allies agreed Ukraine's rights and European security concerns should be taken into account in any deal to end the Ukraine war, ahead of him travelling to Washington next week.

"The position of France and its allies is clear and united. We wish for peace in Ukraine that is lasting," Macron said on X after the meeting with the leaders of 19 countries including Canada, with most taking part by video link.

US President Donald Trump has stunned the European Union by saying he is ready to resume diplomacy with Vladimir Putin after three years of Russia's war against Ukraine, over the heads of both European countries and Kyiv.

Macron held the new meeting on Ukraine on Wednesday afternoon in a bid to coordinate a European response to what he has called an "existential threat" from Russia after the shock US policy shift.

"We stand by Ukraine and will carry out all our responsibilities to ensure peace and security in Europe," Macron said after the video conference call.

But he said participants, which included the heads of state or government of EU nations but also Iceland and Norway, stressed Ukraine should be included and "its rights respected" in the process.

They said "robust and credible guarantees" were needed to ensure a lasting deal, and "European security concerns" would need to be taken into account.

"We are convinced of the need to increase our defence and security spending and capacities for Europe and each of our countries," Macron added.

Macron is set to meet Trump in Washington "early next week", a White House official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said he will meet US envoy Keith Kellogg on Thursday and that he hopes for "constructive" work with the United States, after Trump lashed out against him on social media.

Trump on Wednesday called Zelensky a "dictator", after a day earlier accusing Kyiv of having "started" the war, sparking a pushback from even some members of his own Republican party.

France has been one of Ukraine's main Western backers since Russia unleashed its full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.

Macron had already on Monday hosted key European leaders including from Germany, Britain, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands, as well as NATO and EU chiefs for emergency talks, but several smaller European countries including Romania and the Czech Republic were reportedly aghast at not having been invited.

Romania's interim president Ilie Bolojan and Luxembourg's Prime Minister Luc Frieden were present in person at the meeting on Wednesday afternoon, the French presidency said.

The leaders of Lithuania, Cyprus, Finland, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Island, Latvia, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Slovenia and the Czech Republic meanwhile joined via video conference call. Hungary and Slovakia, whose prime ministers are seen as close to Putin, as well as NATO member Turkey, whose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is eager to act as a mediator, were not on the list of participants. AFP