European countries clashed over sending troops to Ukraine at a crisis meeting intended to reach a consensus on how to respond to US President Donald Trump’s peace talks with Russia.
As leaders convened in Paris for the summit on Monday afternoon, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain expressed a reluctance to dispatch peacekeeping forces to the war-torn country, hours after Britain offered to put “boots on the ground”.
The meeting, which France hoped would also yield plans to help European countries boost defence spending, was hosted by President Emmanuel Macron and attended by the leaders of six other EU countries, the UK and officials from Nato and the EU.
Macron and Trump spoke ahead of the Paris summit.
According to officials briefed on the meeting, France proposed a “reassurance force” that would be stationed behind, not on, a future ceasefire line in Ukraine.
But in blunt remarks following the summit, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called a discussion about troop deployments “highly inappropriate” given the war was still being waged.
“The discussion is completely premature, and it is the wrong time to have it,” said Scholz, who faces nationwide elections on Sunday and has long been cautious about the question of sending soldiers to Ukraine.
He said he was “a little irritated” by the discussion, calling it “an incomprehensible debate at the wrong time and about the wrong topic”.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told fellow leaders she was hesitant about sending European troops to Ukraine, saying it was “the most complex and least likely to be effective” of various options, according to people briefed on her remarks.
But UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “prepared to consider committing British forces on the ground alongside others if there is a lasting peace agreement”.
Asked what a European peacekeeping force might look like, Starmer said talks on a ceasefire were still at “a very early stage”.
However, he added: “There must be a US backstop. A US security guarantee is the only effective way to deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again.”
Washington’s European allies are racing to respond to Trump’s shock announcement of peace talks with Russia, which are set to begin in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. The US president has also demanded European nations spend more on defence.
Some European capitals fear Trump will soon wash his hands of Ukraine and require the continent to ensure the country’s security after any ceasefire, implying a commitment of financial and military resources far beyond current levels.
As well as the UK, Germany, Italy and Poland also made the case after the meeting for the US to remain involved in ensuring Ukraine’s security.
The Kremlin has hailed the discussions with the US in Riyadh, which will not include Ukraine, as a step to restoring full bilateral relations with Washington and ending the war.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that Kyiv would not recognise the outcome of any negotiations from which it was excluded.
Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, later said “nobody” would impose decisions on Zelenskyy as the “elected leader of a sovereign nation”.
One British official brushed aside the reluctance of some European countries to offer troops to maintain a ceasefire in Ukraine, saying: “We don’t need everyone to say ‘Yes’, just enough.”
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen said she was “open to discussing many different things”, such as troop deployments.
“But I would also like to emphasise that there are really, really many things that need to be clarified before we reach this situation, because we are talking about the safety of our own men and women,” she added.
Spain expressed scepticism about committing troops to Ukraine before the Paris summit.
“Nobody is currently considering sending troops to Ukraine. Peace is still very far away and for one reason only: Vladimir Putin,” José Manuel Albares, Spain’s foreign minister, said.
Although Poland has increased defence spending since the Ukraine war began and has been hawkish on the need to protect Europe from Russia, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Warsaw was not prepared to send troops.
“But we will support . . . in terms of logistics and political support, countries that will possibly want to provide such guarantees in the future,” added Tusk.
He downplayed the differences on display at the meeting by saying European countries had all realised they must beef up their militaries.
“There was agreement and unanimity that a significant increase in defence spending is absolutely necessary,” Tusk said.
Leaders at the Paris meeting discussed how to fund enhancements to European defence capabilities, potentially through joint borrowing or what France has called other “innovative financing” methods.
Macron has urged the EU to engage in common borrowing to reduce its reliance on US troops and weaponry, although Germany and the Netherlands have opposed it.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday she would propose EU capitals allowing a temporary easing of the bloc’s rules on deficits for higher defence spending.
Scholz endorsed the idea of an “escape clause” to EU deficit rules, but stopped short of supporting common borrowing.
Starmer has committed to setting out a “pathway” for UK defence spending to reach 2.5 per cent of GDP.
“Europe will have to step up in terms of spending and the commitments we provide,” he said.
Reporting by Leila Abboud and Ben Hall in Paris, Henry Foy in Brussels, George Parker in London, Laura Pitel in Berlin, Raphael Minder in Warsaw, Barney Jopson in Madrid, and Amy Kazmin in Rome
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