European leaders meet over Ukraine's security

Leaders and senior officials of 31 European and NATO nations met in France on Thursday to discuss security guarantees aimed at preserving a future ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

The Peace and Security Meeting for Ukraine called by France's President Emmanuel Macron and United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the Elysee Palace in Paris followed attempts by United States President Donald Trump to secure a ceasefire in the three-year-old Russia-Ukraine conflict.

While three days of US-led talks in Saudi Arabia this week ended without an overarching peace deal, they achieved a ceasefire in the Black Sea and agreements on the exchange of prisoners of war and the relocation of displaced children.

After the summit on Thursday, Macron said that the leaders had agreed to continue supporting Ukraine and its army.

The summit also agreed that sanctions against Russia should not be lifted, and instead ramped up, Starmer said.

"There was complete clarity that now is not the time for the lifting of sanctions, quite the contrary — what we discussed is how we can increase sanctions to support the US initiative to bring Russia to the table from further pressure," he said.

France and Britain were leading efforts to send a "reassurance force" to Ukraine after any peace in the conflict with Russia, even if the idea was not approved by all European allies, Macron said.

"These reassurance forces are a British-French proposition that is desired by Ukraine," Macron said. "It does not have unanimity but we do not need unanimity to do this," he added, saying a Franco-British delegation would head to Ukraine in the coming days to discuss this and the future shape of the Ukrainian army.

Common ground

During a news conference ahead of Thursday's summit, Macron told reporters the summit would seek to find common ground in several areas.

"First and foremost, (we will discuss) the immediate support for Ukraine," he said. "It must go on because it is necessary to continue the resistance."

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said ahead of the summit that he hoped for "strong decisions" from his allies, including a peacekeeping force comprising soldiers from European and NATO nations, a prospect Moscow would strongly oppose.

Zelensky also called on the US to try to persuade Russia to agree to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, saying "without pressure on Russia, there will be no result".

Before the summit, Zelensky met Macron in Paris on Wednesday and Macron announced 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) of additional military aid.

Russia, meanwhile, has said it is willing to sign a peace deal, as long as its conditions are met.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio responded by saying the United States will examine Russia's conditions, but he warned a ceasefire will not be easily achieved.

"It won't be simple. It'll take some time, but at least we're on that road and we're talking about these things," Reuters quoted him as saying.

Rubio noted that conditions Russia has placed on agreeing to a deal "include sanctions that are not ours, they belong to the European Union".

UK Prime Minister Starmer said ahead of Thursday's summit that the proposed "coalition of the willing" peacekeeping force he supports would show Ukraine has strong support from allies.

"Europe is stepping up to play its part to defend Ukraine's future," he said. "Now, (Russia's President Vladimir) Putin needs to show he's willing to play ball."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused France and Britain on Thursday of hatching plans for "military intervention in Ukraine "under the guise of a peacekeeping mission, adding such an intervention could lead to a direct military clash between Russia and NATO.

Russia also accused Ukraine of launching drones and artillery at its energy sites, despite agreements to halt such strikes.

Russia's defense ministry said Kyiv had launched a drone at an electricity site in the Bryansk region on Wednesday and fired artillery at a power unit in the same region on Thursday. Ukraine also fired a drone at a gas storage facility in Crimea on Wednesday, it said.

Washington had said on Tuesday that both Kyiv and Moscow agreed separately to "develop measures for implementing" a halt on strikes on energy infrastructure.

Agencies contributed to this story.