As the continent attempts to provide a tangible response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s unilateral approach to the conflict, France announced on Sunday that it would host a summit of European leaders on Monday to discuss the war in Ukraine and European security.
After Washington sent a questionnaire to European capitals asking them to contribute to security guarantees for Kyiv, Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg announced on Saturday that Europe would not be able to attend the peace talks in Ukraine.
Jean-Noel Barrot, the foreign minister, told France Inter radio that Macron would “call a meeting of the major European nations to discuss European security.” He clarified that the meeting would be a working session and should not be “over-dramatized.”
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Three years after Moscow invaded its neighbor, dozens of similar summits have revealed Europe to be sluggish, occasionally divided, and politically weak, unable to come up with a coherent plan to deal with Russia and end the war in Ukraine.
Although invitations have been sent for the summit to take place on Monday afternoon, the French presidency has not made the announcement, according to diplomats.
According to six European diplomats, invitations have been sent to the European Union leadership, the NATO Secretary General, Britain, Germany, Poland, Italy, and Denmark, which would represent the Baltic and Scandinavian nations.
According to German government sources who spoke to Reuters, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will both attend the summit. Tusk is a member of Poland’s upper house of parliament.
According to them, the meeting’s objectives were to determine what immediate assistance Ukraine could receive, what tangible role Europe could play in giving Kyiv security guarantees, and how to fortify Europe’s collective security.
They stated that it was unclear if anything tangible would result from it.
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