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French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to Paris on Monday, and called ongoing talks “a moment that could be a turning point” for the future of peace in Ukraine and security in Europe.
The discussions are part of a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at brokering the terms for a potential ceasefire in the nearly four-year-old war in Ukraine.
Zelensky’s visit to Paris followed a meeting between Ukrainian and US officials in Florida on Sunday, which US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described as productive. The two sides have worked to make revisions to a proposed US-authored plan that was developed in negotiations between Washington and Moscow but criticised as being too weighted toward Russian demands.
Intense diplomacy in Paris as Macron and Zelensky seek consensus on peace plan
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Those criticisms were perhaps most vehement from Ukraine’s European allies who, while welcoming US peace efforts, pushed back on key tenets of the plan.
Talks on the proposed plan are still in a “preliminary phase”, notably because “Ukraine is the only one that can discuss about its territories” as a sovereign nation, Macron said during a joint press conference with Zelensky.
“But I want to praise the peace efforts of the US,” Macron said.
Macron said the coming days will see “crucial discussions” between US officials and Western partners. They will aim to clarify US participation in security guarantees to be provided to Ukraine after a potential ceasefire or peace deal, he said.
The French president insisted that Europeans play a role in finalising the peace plan.
“There is currently no finalised plan on the territorial issues, strictly speaking. It can only be finalised by President (Volodymyr) Zelensky,” Macron said. “On the issue of frozen assets, security guarantees, accession to the European Union, and European sanctions, it can only be finalised with the Europeans at the table.”
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He also denounced Russia’s continued onslaught against Ukraine.
“At a time when we are talking about peace, Russia continues to kill and destroy,” Macron said.
Zelensky said that Russia has recently stepped up missile and drone strikes on his country to “break” the will of Ukrainians to resist Moscow.
“We are seeing an increase in missile and drone strikes. This is serious pressure, not only psychological but also physical pressure on our population, simply to break the Ukrainians,” he said.
Macron said he believed that sanctions pressure on Russia’s energy sector in the coming weeks would be the “highest” since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“The level of pressure on the oil and gas companies and the oil and gas industry in Russia will be in the weeks to come at the highest since the beginning of the war, and I think this is a game changer,” the French president said, adding that “the level of pressure on the Russian economy will clearly increase”.
Earlier that day, Macron’s office said he and Zelenskyy held talks with other European partners, including leaders from Britain, Germany, Poland, Italy, Norway, Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Also included in the talks were European Union officials Antonio Costa and Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. Macron and Zelensky also had phone calls with US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Macron’s office said.
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US President Donald Trump has downplayed his administration’s original 28-point peace framework, which would have imposed limits on the size of Ukraine’s military, blocked the country from joining NATO and required Ukraine to give up territory, as a “concept” to be “fine-tuned”.
Last week, Macron – a key ally of Ukraine who has firmly backed Kyiv and sought to counterbalance elements of the US peace plan that are seen to favour Russia – urged Western allies to bring “rock-solid” guarantees to Ukraine in case a ceasefire or a peace deal was to be reached. He has endorsed deploying a “reassurance force” on land, at sea and in the air to help ensure the country’s security.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would meet with US presidential envoy Witkoff on Tuesday afternoon.
Witkoff’s role in the peace efforts came under scrutiny last week following a report that he coached Putin’s foreign affairs adviser on how Russia’s leader should pitch the Ukraine peace plan to Trump.
(FRANCE 24 with AP and AFP)
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