Overview

• Emmanuel Macron said 26 countries formally signaled readiness to contribute forces as a backing presence under a ceasefire, with deployments away from front lines and details such as locations and size still unspecified.
• Leaders agreed on a broad framework of security guarantees and began the political and legal work to implement it, then held a call with President Donald Trump to seek U.S. reassurance.
• Germany outlined a package reported to target roughly 20% annual growth in Ukraine’s air‑defense capacity, equipment for four mechanized brigades—about 480 infantry vehicles per year—and support for producing long‑range precision weapons in Ukraine, subject to U.S. participation, Russian engagement and domestic approval.
• Willing contributors identified in reporting include France, the UK, Denmark, Estonia and Lithuania, with Sweden offering air and maritime roles and the Netherlands signaling multi‑domain support, while several EU states said they would not send soldiers.
• Moscow labeled any Western troop presence unacceptable, as NATO chief Mark Rutte countered that Russia has no say over foreign forces in sovereign Ukraine, and Berlin reiterated it has no current plans to deploy troops.