PARIS. Twenty-six countries have pledged to provide postwar security guarantees to Ukraine, which could involve an international presence on land, at sea and in the air, French President Emmanuel Macron announced following a summit of Kyiv’s allies on Thursday.
Macron said he and fellow European leaders, along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, held a call with U.S. President Donald Trump after the meeting, adding that Washington’s contributions would be finalized in the coming days.
Asked later about his contacts with Russia, Trump said: “Yeah, I will be. We are having a very good dialogue,” referring to a potential conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The summit brought together 35 leaders from the “coalition of the willing,” mainly European nations, to finalize security guarantees and seek U.S. backing, which participants said was vital to make the commitments effective. The measures aim to reassure Ukraine and deter future Russian aggression.
“The day the conflict stops, the security guarantees will be deployed,” Macron said at a press conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, standing alongside Zelenskiy.
Officials acknowledged peace remains a distant prospect but stressed the importance of being prepared. Macron clarified that while some nations may deploy to Ukraine, others will provide support through training or equipping Ukrainian forces from outside the country. He did not specify troop numbers.
Germany and several others pledged involvement, but Berlin said any military commitment would depend on the scale of U.S. participation. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stated Italy would not send troops but could contribute to ceasefire monitoring and training outside Ukraine. France and Britain signaled readiness to deploy troops after the war.
Zelenskiy welcomed the outcome, noting: “Twenty-six countries agreed to provide security guarantees. Today, for the first time in a long time, this is the first such serious, particular substance.”
During the leaders’ call, Trump urged Europe to stop buying Russian oil and called for greater economic pressure on China, which he said was supporting Moscow. A White House official confirmed he also emphasized closer coordination on sanctions targeting Russia’s energy sector and China.
Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov said his country will not send troops but could support naval security in the Black Sea, including de-mining, and expressed interest in forming a regional security alliance with Romania and Turkey.
European governments have stressed that any forces in Ukraine would require U.S. security guarantees as a safeguard. Trump has not explicitly committed to this, though his envoy Steve Witkoff met European and Ukrainian diplomats before attending the summit’s opening.
European officials also voiced concern about the lack of direct peace talks between Putin and Zelenskiy since Trump hosted Putin in August, urging Washington to apply more pressure on Moscow.
Putin on Wednesday suggested negotiations were possible “if common sense prevails,” though he warned he was prepared to continue the war if necessary. He dismissed the idea of NATO troop deployments to Ukraine, while NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte responded that Russia should not have a say in Ukraine’s security arrangements.
“Why are we interested in what Russia thinks about troops in Ukraine? It’s a sovereign country,” Rutte said in Prague before joining the Paris summit virtually. “Russia has nothing to do with this. I think we really have to stop making Putin too powerful.”
Edgardo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
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