Paris and London want to stop the fighting between Moscow and Kiev, but not at any cost, the president has said
A plan developed by France and Britain to end the Ukraine conflict involves a month-long ceasefire followed by the deployment of Western European peacekeepers to Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron has said.
Kiev’s backers held an emergency summit in London on Sunday, in response to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s disastrous trip to Washington last week. Zelensky’s visit to the White House was abruptly cut short on Friday after his meeting with US President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance devolved into a shouting match in front of the media.
Macron told Le Figaro newspaper on Sunday that he does not believe in any peace deal that could be achieved as a result of talks between the US and Russia, claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin would seek to humiliate Ukraine, including by demilitarizing it.
According to the French president, Paris and London have developed their own alternative plan to stop the fighting. “We want peace, but we do not want it at any cost, without guarantees,” he explained.
The French-UK plan envisages a temporary, month-long “truce in the air, on the seas, and on energy infrastructure,” Macron said.
A contingent of Western European peacekeepers, led by France and the UK, would be deployed to Ukraine at a later stage when the situation on the ground is safe for them, he added.
“There will be no European troops on Ukrainian soil in the coming weeks. The question is how can we use this time to try to get a truce accessible, with negotiations that will take several weeks, and then, when the peace is signed, a deployment,” Macron stated.
Following the gathering in London, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK and France are ready to lead a “coalition of the willing” to provide military support to Ukraine, including the deployment of troops and aircraft, after a peace deal with Russia has been reached.
Moscow has repeatedly ruled out a temporary ceasefire with Kiev, insisting on a permanent, legally binding peace deal that addresses the root causes of the conflict.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier said that the idea of deploying Western European peacekeepers to Ukraine is meant to “further fuel the conflict and stop any attempts to cool it down.” Moscow has said it will view any foreign troops that arrive in Ukraine without a UN mandate as legitimate targets.
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President Putin stated last week that Moscow does not object to Western Europe’s participation in the peace process, but stressed that “no one can demand anything from Russia here.”
