President Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed steps towards ending Russia's war against Ukraine in a phone conversation on Feb. 14.
The call followed Zelensky's meeting with U.S. officials, including Vice President JD Vance, at the Munich Security Conference.
The two leaders discussed how European partners can coordinate with the U.S. and Ukraine to bring about a just peace, the Presidential Office reported.
"Europe must be represented at the negotiating table," Zelensky reportedly emphasized to Macron.
According to the Presidential Office, the call focused particularly on "security guarantees and proposals of France." While the president did not disclose the details of these proposals, Zelensky and Macron have previously discussed France's idea of deploying Western peacekeepers to monitor a future ceasefire in Ukraine.
While Zelensky has said that Ukraine's preferred postwar security guarantee is NATO membership, U.S. leadership has severely undercut that aim in the past few days.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during the Ramstein summit on Feb. 12 that Ukraine's NATO membership was not a "realistic outcome" of peace negotiations. He also said that a return to the country's pre-2014 borders was "an unrealistic objective."
Later that day, U.S. President Donald Trump said he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin directly about negotiations to end the war. Trump called Zelensky some time after his talk with Putin.
European officials were reportedly caught off guard by Trump's direct engagement with Putin, with key allies receiving no prior notice, according to Bloomberg.
Zelensky and Macron reportedly discussed the conversation with Trump in their latest call.
"If President Trump can truly convince President Putin to stop the aggression against Ukraine, that is great news," Macron said on X after speaking with Zelensky.
"Then, it will be the Ukrainians alone who can drive the discussions for a solid and lasting peace. We will help them in this endeavor."
Zelensky thanked Macron for championing the idea of "nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine."
"The security of the whole of Europe in the future depends on unity now," the Presidential Office said.
Many European leaders have reiterated their ongoing support for Ukraine amid Trump's push for a swift deal to end the war. Still, some allies in Europe fear that they will have to shoulder the economic and security burdens of Ukraine's postwar recovery as the U.S. and Russia exclude them from talks on ending the war.
The Kyiv Independent
(Updated: )
