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Macron pushes for strong security guarantees for Ukraine after talks with Trump, Zelensky

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Macron pushes for strong security guarantees for Ukraine after talks with Trump, Zelensky
French President Emmanuel Macron talks during the press conference with the media at the end of the EU Summit in Brussels on Feb. 1, 2024. (Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images)

French President Emmanuel Macron has reaffirmed the need for strong security guarantees for Ukraine, warning that a ceasefire without them risks collapsing like the failed Minsk agreements.

His Feb. 17 statement came after urgent talks with European leaders, followed by separate calls with U.S. President Donald Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Paris summit, convened by Macron on short notice, reflected growing European concerns that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin may be negotiating over European security without the direct involvement of European leaders.

"We seek a strong and lasting peace in Ukraine," Macron said. "To achieve this, Russia must end its aggression, and this must be accompanied by strong and credible security guarantees for the Ukrainians." He stressed that without such measures, any ceasefire could be short-lived and ineffective.

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Macron emphasized Europe’s responsibility to strengthen its own security: "Europeans must invest better, more, and together in their security and defense—both for today and for the future," he said in his statement on X.

Macron also underscored the importance of close coordination with the U.S. and Ukraine in shaping a sustainable security framework. "We will work on this together with all Europeans, Americans, and Ukrainians. This is the key," he said.

French president's comments reflect growing European concerns about Trump’s approach to negotiations with Russia and the potential for a U.S.-brokered deal that does not fully account for Ukrainian and European security needs.

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Olena Goncharova

Head of North America desk

Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

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