Europe leaders battle for unity in ‘new phase’ under Trump

At a Paris emergency conference on Monday, European leaders disagreed on how to react to US President Donald Trump’s abrupt change in Ukraine policy, with Germany objecting to the idea of sending soldiers and France and Britain demanding security guarantees.

Key leaders joined the meeting at the Elysee Palace, which President Emmanuel Macron summoned at the last minute, as European politicians were still in shock over US Vice President JD Vance’s scathing attack on the European Union at an annual security conference in Munich.

A rare meeting between the top Russian and American officials is scheduled for Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, which has increased European leaders’ concerns that Trump may bar them from peace negotiations with Moscow that will also exclude Kyiv.

European leaders in Paris weighed measures including ramping up defence spending to be less dependent on the US, providing security guarantees to Kyiv, and sending troops to Ukraine as peacekeepers in the event of a ceasefire.

Macron held telephone talks with both Trump and Zelensky, he said early Tuesday, calling for “strong and credible security guarantees” for Ukraine so that a peace deal does not end up like the 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements that failed to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Zelensky said he and Macron shared a “common vision” for how to achieve peace, including that “security guarantees must be robust and reliable,” he said on social media after the call.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “prepared to consider committing British forces on the ground alongside others if there is a lasting peace agreement.”

“There must be a US backstop, because a US security guarantee is the only way to effectively deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again,” he said, insisting that Washington be involved.

However, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared following the discussions that any discussion of sending peacekeepers to Ukraine was “completely premature” and “highly inappropriate” at a time when the fighting is still going on.