French President Emmanuel Macron is set to hold a new meeting on Ukraine on Wednesday to coordinate the European response to Russia’s “existential threat”.
EU officials have been surprised by US President Donald Trump’s response to his readiness to resume diplomacy with President Vladimir Putin after Russia’s three-year war against Ukraine. On Monday, Macron called key European leaders, as well as NATO and EU chiefs, for emergency talks to discuss a coordinated response to Washington’s surprise policy shift on Russia.
Some smaller European countries, including Romania and the Czech Republic, were surprised not to be invited despite being strong supporters of Ukraine. Macron said he would call a new meeting on Wednesday and include them in the discussions.
In an interview with a French regional newspaper on Tuesday, he said he planned to meet with “many European and non-European countries.” The Elysee (French presidential office) has said that most participants will participate in the talks, scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, via video link. Macron said, “Russia is an existential threat to Europeans.”
France has been one of Ukraine’s main Western supporters since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In the interview, Macron appeared open to the idea of sending troops to Ukraine but stressed that this could only be done in the most limited fashion and away from conflict zones.
He said Paris was “not prepared to send combat ground troops to the conflict.” But France, along with its ally Britain, was considering “sending experts or troops under limited conditions outside any conflict zone.” Macron had boldly suggested in the days following the US announcement that Trump could “resume useful dialogue” with Putin.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barot said Macron plans to meet with party leaders soon to discuss Ukraine. “This is very important. All French people and their elected representatives must fully understand the seriousness of the situation in which we find ourselves and the difficulty of some of the choices we must make,” he told news agency RTL.
“Russia has decided to make us its enemy and we must open our eyes, understand the scale of the threat and defend ourselves. It is time to acknowledge past mistakes in dealing with the Kremlin and take action,” he said. “If we do nothing and turn a blind eye to the danger, the ‘front line’ will move closer to our borders,” said Barrot.
