According to officials, European leaders have warned that it would be risky for Kyiv to agree to a ceasefire without a negotiated peace agreement with Moscow. They have also warned that European leaders are ready to offer security guarantees.
Following Donald Trump’s withdrawal from negotiations with Russia and Saudi Arabia, the United States President Emmanuel Macron called a meeting in Paris on Monday to discuss a deal to end the Ukrainian conflict.
“Ready and willing. That’s my take from today’s meeting in Paris. Europe is willing to take the initiative. Following the emergency meeting, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte posted a message on social media to lead in providing security guarantees for Ukraine.
Rutte remarked, “The commitment is clear, but the details will need to be decided.”
Following the meeting, a representative from the European Union stated that leaders were “ready to provide security guarantees, with modalities to be examined with each party, depending on the level of American support.”
“We agree with President Trump on a ‘ peace through strength ‘ approach”, the official said, summarising the result of the meeting.
The official added that “we think it’s dangerous to reach a ceasefire without a peace agreement at the same time.”
Following US statements on Ukraine last week, which shook up a once-solid transatlantic alliance, the three hours of emergency talks at the Elysee Palace in Paris came to an end. In response to Trump’s message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, they also reportedly contacted him about how Washington might embrace the Kremlin while also offering the US’s traditional European allies a cold shoulder.
Following his recent meeting with other European leaders to discuss the global situation, the state of affairs in Europe, and security guarantees for Ukraine, President of France @EmmanuelMacron spoke for a while.
We share a common vision: security guarantees…
A weak ceasefire with Russia would serve as a “prelude” to further Russian aggression against his or other European nations, according to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy late on Monday.
“We share a common vision: security guarantees must be robust and reliable”, Zelenskyy said on social media.
Any other choice that doesn’t have these guarantees, such as a fragile ceasefire, would only serve as another Russian lie and the beginning of a new Russian conflict with Ukraine or other European countries, he said.
We met with American colleagues to bargain.
According to reports, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Middle Eastern envoy Steve Witkoff are scheduled to meet on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Foreign Policy Advisor Yuri Ushakov.
Ushakov said on Monday, upon arrival in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, that talks on Ukraine would be strictly bilateral, Russia’s RIA state news agency reported.
“We came to negotiate with American colleagues”, RIA cited Ushakov as saying. “These are bilateral talks, purely bilateral. In Riyadh, there are no possible trilateral discussions.
Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro, reporting from Washington, DC said the Trump administration’s communication with Moscow and talks on a peace agreement mark a reversal of the previous US President Joe Biden’s administration’s approach to Ukraine.
“With Biden, we heard so much affirmation about Ukraine’s standpoint in the war, and it’s only been the opposite since Trump took office”, Zhou-Castro said.
“Coming from]Trump’s] administration, from his secretary of defence, we’ve heard the US side really on Russia’s negotiating positions, saying that the US finds it now to be unrealistic for Ukraine to reclaim all of its lost territory to Russia, and no longer endorsing a NATO membership for Ukraine”, she said.
“Both very bitter pills to swallow for Ukraine, which is saying that it won’t swallow them at all”, she added.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has stated that this would open the door for a Trump and Putin personal meeting in the future, despite the US side’s not telegraphing any expectations for tomorrow.
Source: Aljazeera
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