France's President Emmanuel Macron will host leaders from key European countries on Monday, February 16, to discuss the continent's security, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said, amid growing concerns over US efforts to end the Ukraine war. "The president will bring together the main European countries tomorrow for discussions on European security," Barrot told the France Inter radio broadcaster on Sunday, without saying which nations would participate.
Macron's office said Sunday that European leaders would meet in Paris on Monday afternoon to discuss "the situation in Ukraine" and "security in Europe." The heads of government of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark" will be attending the "informal meeting," it said. Antonio Costa, who heads the European Council representing the European Union's 27 nations, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO secretary general Marc Rutte will also be present.
US President Donald Trump blindsided Ukraine and its European backers this week by starting discussions on Russia's invasion in a call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The new US administration has also warned its NATO allies that Europe will no longer be its top security priority and it may shift forces to as it switches focus to China.
The Kremlin has pushed for negotiations – set to kick off in Saudi Arabia in coming days – to discuss not just Ukraine but also broader European security. That has sparked fears among Washington's allies that Putin could return to demands he floated prior to the 2022 invasion aimed at limiting NATO's forces in eastern Europe and US involvement on the continent.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio played down expectations Sunday of any breakthrough at upcoming talks with Russian officials on ending the war in Ukraine. "A process towards peace is not a one-meeting thing," he told the CBS network as the Munich Security Conference wrapped up. "Nothing's been finalized yet," he said, adding that the aim was to seek an opening for a broader conversation that "would include Ukraine and would involve the end of the war."
'Only the Ukrainians can decide'
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for the creation of a European army, arguing the continent could no longer count on Washington. Zelensky said there should be "no decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine" or "about Europe without Europe."
Barrot said: "Only the Ukrainians can decide to stop fighting and we will support them until they make that decision." The Ukrainians "will never stop as long as they are not sure that the peace that is suggested to them will be long-lasting," he added. "Who can provide the guarantees? It's the Europeans."
Costa on Sunday said the security of the European Union and of Ukraine were intertwined. "There will be no credible and successful negotiations, no lasting peace, without Ukraine and without the European Union," he wrote on X.
Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, on Saturday said Europe would not be directly involved in talks though it would still have an "input." "Asked whether Europeans would be at the table, Kellogg responded: "I'm of the school of realism, I think that's not going to happen." US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has appeared to rule out Ukraine joining NATO or retaking all of its territory lost since 2014.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb on Sunday said that talks between the United States and Russia over the Ukraine war must not rewrite European security. "There's no way in which we should open the door for this Russian fantasy of a new, indivisible security order, where it can do spheres of interest," he said. Finland shares a 1,300-kilometer border with Russia.