As Putin rejects peace efforts, Zelenskyy to meet European leaders today to discuss security guarantees

As Russian leader Vladimir Putin has rejected all peace efforts so far, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet European leaders on Thursday in Paris to discuss security guarantees for his country. He will also later hold a call with US President Donald Trump.

The summit will be hosted by British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron under the ‘coalition of the willing’ framework.

Ahead of the summit, European leaders have said that they have nearly finalised security guarantees for Ukraine. They have stressed that they need final confirmation from Trump about the United States providing the ‘backstop’ to their deployment in Ukraine as part of security guarantees.

On its part, Russia has categorically rejected foreign troops’ deployment in Ukraine. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that “they are not guarantees of Ukraine’s security, they are guarantees of danger to the European continent”.

Separately, Putin has said that he is willing to “resolve all our tasks militarily” in the absence of a negotiated settlement to the war. However, Putin has refused all calls for a ceasefire and a direct meeting with Zelenskyy.

Earlier this week, a two-week deadline set by Trump for Putin to respond to peace efforts passed. Despite Trump’s claim that Putin made concessions at the Alaska summit, Putin has doubled down on longstanding maximalist demands and ramped up attacks on Ukraine — striking even diplomatic and foreign establishments in Kyiv and elsewhere.

‘We are ready’: Macron on security guarantees

Ahead of the summit, Macron on Wednesday said that Europe was “ready” to offer security guarantees to Ukraine.

“We are ready —we the Europeans— to offer the security guarantees to Ukraine and Ukrainians the day that a peace [accord] is signed,” said Macron, as per AFP.

Macron said the details of security guarantees were “extremely confidential” but the “preparation was completed” at an earlier meeting of defence ministers.

While European leaders have been tight-lipped about the nature of security guarantees, they are expected to include the deployment of European troops to Ukraine, a training mission to rebuild the Ukrainian military, and a ‘backstop’ from the United States.

While Trump has said that he would not deploy US soldiers to Ukraine, he has expressed openness to providing a backstop by other means, such as US fighter planes to police the Ukrainian skies or provide aerial support to European troops in Ukraine.

On his part, Zelenskyy said that European security guarantees alone “might not be enough” to prevent Putin from launching a new war.

Zelenskyy said, “We need an alliance between Europe and the United States.”

“Unfortunately, we have not yet seen any signs from Russia that they want to end the war,” Zelenskyy further said.