Macron plans to meet Zelensky in E3 format to structure future peace talks

French President Emmanuel Macron said on June 5 that he will meet President Volodymyr Zelensky, along with the U.K. and German leaders, in the coming days to discuss how to structure future peace talks.

The remarks came the day after Zelensky published an open letter addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he suggested the two countries should press ahead with direct bilateral peace talks.

"I believe that it is now up to Ukraine and Russia to establish both a ceasefire and a peace plan," Macron told journalists on the sidelines of the EU-Western Balkans summit in Montenegro.

"We (France, Germany, and the U.K.) will be meeting with President Zelensky in a few days' time, and we are here both to organize support within the framework of the coalition of the willing and to put that support in place," Macron added.

Macron's public agenda on the website of France's presidential palace notes that he is to have a meeting in London on June 7 in the early evening.

However, there was no record yet of such an event on either Merz's calendar of appointments or the U.K government website.

Zelensky's office declined to comment on the arrangement, in line with a longstanding policy not to disclose his movements in advance.

Zelensky's letter to Putin suggested that Russia and Ukraine begin talks directly, but noted that "other specific participants may join the bilateral track that has been started between us."

"We believe that Europe needs to participate — those who really have the ability to influence the situation," Zelensky added.

Macron told reporters that as "by far the largest contributors to Ukraine's war effort, it is the Europeans who must, at some point, be around the negotiating table for a peace plan."

However, his focus on the E3 format would be to the exclusion of the European Union and all other European countries.

European Commission spokesperson Anitta Hipper welcomed Zelensky's letter but did not comment on who should participate.

"From our side, we support peace through all formats. We will not be going however now into who should be the mediator or not," Hipper said.

She added that EU foreign ministers are focused on establishing a common stance on Russia and on what Europe's demands ought to be in any future peace talks.

That matches earlier remarks made by the EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, who said: "Russia wants us to discuss who talks to them and they are already picking who is suitable for that."

"Let's not walk into that trap," Kallas said.