French President Emmanuel Macron, second left, greets Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during arrivals for a summit on Ukraine at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Thursday, March 27, 2025 . (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
French President Emmanuel Macron, second left, greets Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during arrivals for a summit on Ukraine at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Thursday, March 27, 2025 . (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
PARIS — France and Britain will continue to forge ahead with plans to deploy troops in Ukraine to secure an eventual peace deal with Russia but only some other nations want to take part, French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday after a summit of countries that have been mulling the proposal.
“These reassurance forces are a French-British proposal,” Macron said. “It is desired by Ukraine and noted by several member states that have expressed their willingness to join. It is not unanimous. That is known. Besides, we do not need unanimity to achieve it.”
Macron said French and British military officials will work with Ukraine to decide where the contingents could be deployed.
“These exchanges between military officials will define the locations, the number of troops so it is credible,” the French leader said. “There will be a reassurance force with several European nations that will deploy.”
The summit of leaders of nearly 30 countries plus NATO and European Union chiefs came at a crucial juncture in the more than three-year war, with intensifying diplomatic efforts to broker ceasefires, driven by pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.
But fighting rages on.
Before the leaders met in the luxury of the French presidential palace, Russian drone attacks overnight wounded more than 20 people and heavy shelling Thursday afternoon killed one person and knocked out electricity in parts of Kherson, Ukrainian officials said.
Macron and other summit participants accused Russia of only pretending to want a negotiated settlement.
“They are playing games and they’re playing for time,” said U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “We can’t let them drag this out while they continue prosecuting their illegal invasion.”
U.S.-brokered agreements this week to safeguard shipping in the Black Sea and last week to halt long-range strikes on energy infrastructure were greeted as a first step toward peace. But Ukraine and Russia have disagreed over the details and accused each other of deal violations, foreshadowing a long and contentious process ahead.
One reason why some European countries are more comfortable with a potential deployment in Ukraine than others is because it’s unclear whether Trump would allow American forces and intelligence agencies to support any European contingent with air power and other assistance.
“This will require the engagement and support of the Untied States,” Starmer said. “That’s a discussion we’ve had with the president on many occasions.”
Macron suggested they may have to do without U.S. backing.
“You have to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst,” he said. “My hope is that the Americans will be on our side and that the Americans will support, even play an active role.”
“But we have to be prepared for a situation where perhaps they won’t join in,” he added.
France and Britain say such a force would aim to secure any peace deal by dissuading Russia from attacking Ukraine again.
Building a force big enough to act as a credible deterrent - U.K. officials have talked about possibly 10,000 to 30,000 troops - would be a considerable effort for nations that shrank their militaries after the Cold War but are now rearming.
Starmer’s office said military planners from Europe and beyond have been drilling down into details, examining “the full range of European military capabilities including aircraft, tanks, troops, intelligence and logistics.”
In the face of enduring pressure from Trump on Europe to increase military spending and rely less on U.S. forces, the proposed contingent is seen as a test of the continent’s willingness to defend itself and its interests.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted an image from inside the summit of him and other leaders standing together with the caption: “Europe knows how to defend itself. We must prove it.”
Macron said Wednesday that the proposed could deploy to “important towns, strategic bases” in Ukraine and that it could “respond” to a Russian attack if Moscow launched one.
Macron didn’t specify what sort of response he envisaged. But he suggested that a Russian attack might not go unanswered, even though the European troops wouldn’t be deployed to the front lines.
Summit participants insisted that punishing economic sanctions must still be levied on Russia to force it to negotiate..
Sanctions that have hit Russia’s economy and limited its access to global markets remain a major bargaining chip for Europe in trying to bring about a lasting peace.
While Russia has demanded sanctions be lifted to meet its terms for the Black Sea ceasefire, Zelenskyy has accused Moscow of attempting to add conditions to what should be an unconditional agreement.
The White House said it would help restore Russia’s access to the world market for fertilizer and farm exports, but it didn’t validate Moscow’s conditions. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Russia’s demands would be evaluated and presented to Trump.
As ceasefire efforts gather steam, Ukraine’s allies in Europe are working to strengthen Kyiv’s hand militarily. Their aim is to enable it to keep fighting until any broad peace takes hold and also to turn the Ukrainian army into the first line of defense against any future Russian aggression.
Macron announced a new package of defense aid for Ukraine that he said was worth 2 billion euros ($2.15 billion) and will include light tanks, air defense and anti-tank missiles and other weaponry and support.
Russian drone attacks overnight wounded at least 18 people in the Kharkiv region and three people in Dnipro, officials said. Shelling in a front-line community in the Zaporizhzhia region knocked out electricity and phone coverage, regional head Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram.
Zelenskyy said that the attacks were further evidence that the U.S. and Europe shouldn’t ease sanctions on Moscow.
“Russia is killing every day and prolonging this war,” Zelenskyy said on social media. “The American proposal for an unconditional ceasefire has been on the table for half a month now.”
Separately, the Ukrainian Army General Staff said that its attack at Engels military airfield in Russia on March 20 had destroyed 96 air-to-air cruise missiles and significant reserves of aviation fuel.
Satellite imagery taken the next day by Maxar Technologies appeared to show damage to ammunition and weapons storage at Engels, the main base for Russia’s nuclear-capable strategic bombers.
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Illia Novikov contributed to this report from Kyiv, Ukraine, and Pan Pylas from London.
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