Paris and London announced they will send a “joint team” to Kyiv within three weeks to explore the structure of a future “reassurance force” for the country.
French President Emmanuel Macron had planned to use Thursday’s talks to develop his idea of a potential “reassurance force” once there is a ceasefire agreement, which would foresee some contingent of European ‘boots on the ground’.
But speaking to reporters after the talks, Macron said there was still no unanimity.
Instead, he said there were plans for chiefs of staff of both countries to dispatch a “Franco-British team to Ukraine” to meet with Ukrainian counterparts within “three weeks” to identify “strategic locations” where future Western troops could be stationed.
These forces will be neither “peacekeeping troops” nor “frontline combat units,” he added.
The team will also assess “the structure of Ukraine’s army of tomorrow,” including its size, equipment, and even the designation of its soldiers.
In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused Paris and London of attempting to disguise their intervention as a “kind of peacekeeping mission.”
Keeping (it) together
As Thursday’s meeting gathered over 30 leaders and officials, more than previous such initiatives, Russia-friendly Hungary and Slovakia were notably absent.
Talks “are not intended to persuade the Americans and the Russians to include them in peace negotiations, but rather to prevent any centrifugal movement among Western countries,” Sylvain Kahn, European affairs professor at Sciences Po, said.
“The aim is to keep everyone at the same table and to signal to the rest of the world that, unlike the US, they remain reliable allies who can be counted on,” Kahn said.
An EU official present in Paris confirmed that as part of Thursday’s pledging, the bloc’s “immediate support” for Ukraine would include two million rounds of ammunition, indicating there was movement on a €5 billion initiative floated last week by the bloc’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas.
At the meeting, EU leaders downplayed recent divergences on Ukraine aid and defence funding to “demonstrate to Washington that NATO countries are capable of organising their own defence without relying on their American ‘big brother’,” he added.
Increasing pressure
Thursday’s meeting comes after Washington this week said Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a Black Sea ceasefire, though Moscow said its involvement would depend on a series of pre-conditions, including sanctions relief.
“Participants remain doubtful as to whether Russia will implement the announced partial ceasefire,” an EU official present at the talks said.
While the Trump administration will need European consent to lift any Russia sanctions to make the deal work, several EU leaders in Paris, to the contrary, called for tightening the screws on Moscow.
European Council President António Costa said the best way to help Ukraine was to “keep up the pressure on Russia through sanctions.”
EU leaders present were convinced “it would be a strategic mistake to give in to the temptation of an early softening of sanctions,” the official said.
