After years of diplomatic chill due to Brexit, the French and British are, once again, coordinating at the highest level, signaling their willingness to commit to the continent's security to their European allies. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is due to arrive in Paris on Wednesday, March 26, to prepare a new gathering of the "coalition of the willing" at the Elysée Palace.

The French-British initiative, on Thursday, is set to include some 30 allied countries, which are ready to provide further assistance to Ukraine and secure a possible ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow, at a time when the Trump administration has begun laborious negotiations with Russia, without the Europeans. Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, is expected to come to Paris, just as the French president had done for the coalition's first meeting in London, on March 2.

The aim will be to discuss further military support for Ukraine, to strengthen its army as the war drags on, all while refining plans to deploy a "reassurance force" on site to enforce a possible ceasefire. The commitment shown by the continent's two nuclear powers is rather appreciated by other European countries, even if the "coalition of the willing" still has a lot to prove.

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