France to host European summit on Ukraine

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France to host European summit on Ukraine

France is set to host a summit of European leaders to discuss the Ukraine war and European security as the continent tries to respond concretely to US President Donald Trump’s unilateral approach to the conflict.

Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg said on Saturday Europe would not have a seat at the table for Ukraine peace talks after Washington sent a questionnaire to European capitals to ask what they could contribute to security guarantees for Kyiv.

“(French President Emmanuel Macron) will convene the main European countries to discuss European security,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told France Inter radio, adding that the Monday meeting would be a working session that should not be “over-dramatised”.

The French presidency has not announced the meeting, although invitations have been sent for the summit to take place on Monday afternoon, diplomats said.

******* Chancellor Olaf Scholz will attend the summit, ******* government sources told Reuters.

As will Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a member of Poland’s upper house of parliament said.

They said the meeting aimed to see what immediate help can be given to Ukraine, what concrete role Europe can play in providing security guarantees for Kyiv as well as how to strengthen Europe’s collective security.

It was not clear whether anything concrete would come out of it, they said.

Six European diplomats said invites had gone at least to Britain, Germany, Poland, Italy, Denmark, which would represent Baltic and Scandinavian countries, the European Union leadership and the NATO Secretary General.

Since a phone call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, there have been concerns in Europe and Ukraine that Europeans might be excluded from any peace agreement.

There are fears that Trump does not want Europeans at the negotiating table, yet expects them to bear the burdens of implementing a peace solution.

Negotiations for peace in Ukraine are meanwhile gaining momentum: in the coming week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and senior Russian representatives are reportedly set to meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss an end to the Russian war.

Additionally, a meeting between Trump and Putin is to be prepared in the Arab kingdom.

According to Politico, no European representatives are expected to be present at next week’s talks in Saudi Arabia.

Citing a Ukrainian official, the US outlet reported that Ukraine will also not send representatives there.

with dpa

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