PARIS: European nations, including the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, emphasized on Wednesday the necessity of their involvement in any future discussions regarding Ukraine’s destiny.
“Our shared objectives should be to put Ukraine in a position of strength. Ukraine and Europe must be part of any negotiations,” a joint statement of seven countries and the European Commission said.
“Ukraine should be provided with strong security guarantees. A just and lasting peace in Ukraine is a necessary condition for a strong transatlantic security,” the statement said, adding that the European powers were looking forward to discussing the way ahead with their American allies.
Ministers from France, Britain, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain and the European Commission met with Ukraine’s foreign minister in Paris on Wednesday.
The meeting, scheduled weeks ago, aimed at outlining the bloc’s defence strategy, discussing how to strengthen Ukraine, planning for future peace talks and discussing how to approach talks with the U.S. administration when they meet at a security conference in Munich this weekend.
But it was derailed after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered the bluntest public statements from the Trump administration on its approach to the nearly three-year war between Ukraine and Russia.
He said, return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders was unrealistic and the U.S. did not see NATO membership for Kyiv as part of a solution to the war.
