PARIS—European leaders at an emergency meeting in Paris were divided on how to respond to US President Donald Trump’s dramatic policy shift on Ukraine, with France and Britain pushing for security guarantees and Germany bristling at suggestions troops could be deployed.
With European policymakers still reeling from US Vice President JD Vance’s withering attack on the European Union at an annual security conference in Munich, key leaders attended the meeting at the Elysee Palace called at the last minute by President Emmanuel Macron.
European leaders worry that Trump will freeze them out of peace talks with Moscow that will also exclude Kyiv, fears that were heightened by a rare meeting expected Tuesday in Saudi Arabia between the top diplomats from Russia and the United States.
European leaders in Paris weighed measures including ramping up defense 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 Zelenskyy, 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.
Zelenskyy 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.”