European leaders to meet in Paris on Ukraine’s security future

Nation

1 September 2025, 08:59 AM

European leaders who took part in the Aug. 18 meeting with Donald Trump in Washington are set to gather again — this time in Paris on Sept. 4 — to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine, The Financial Times reported on Aug. 31.

The publication cited three unnamed diplomats in its material.

The summit is being convened at the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron and will reportedly include the same leaders who attended the Washington meeting.

Expected participants include German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Correction: An earlier version of this report mistakenly stated that Donald Trump will attend the Paris summit. However, FT confirmed that only the European leaders who previously met with Trump are expected to be present. There is also no confirmation that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend, despite speculation from some Telegram channels.

Security guarantees for Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that following his meetings with Trump and European leaders in Washington, work had begun on the specific architecture of future security guarantees for Ukraine.

According to The Wall Street Journal, U.S. President Trump and European counterparts agreed that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead a working group including NATO representatives and national security advisers to develop a comprehensive proposal.

Rubio reportedly told European officials that the U.S. is willing to participate in providing postwar security guarantees for Ukraine — but emphasized that Europe must take the lead.

CNN, citing sources, also reported that the U.S. may play a limited role in the final guarantees — possibly including the deployment of American pilots to Ukraine — depending on the terms of a future peace agreement with Russia.

However, the Institute for the Study of War noted that after Zelenskyy's meetings in Washington, Russian officials began publicly rejecting any European-led security arrangements for Ukraine that exclude Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed Moscow will not agree to any collective security guarantees for Ukraine formulated without its participation.

On Aug. 23, President Zelenskyy announced that Ukrainian, U.S., and European teams were finalizing the framework for these guarantees, and that concrete proposals would be ready within days.

Інші новини

Все новости