Overview

• About 30 predominantly European leaders convened in Paris, in person and by video, to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.
• Emmanuel Macron said military preparatory work is complete and the aim is to signal readiness to Washington, with a call to President Donald Trump planned and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff expected at the meeting.
• Berlin plans to propose a roughly 20 percent annual increase in Ukraine’s air‑defense capacity, support for producing long‑range precision weapons in Ukraine, and equipment for four mechanized brigades, alongside training and defense‑industry integration.
• German government circles stress these contributions are contingent on U.S. involvement, Russian willingness to negotiate, internal government agreement, and Bundestag approval, with no unilateral troop commitment.
• Russia’s foreign ministry rejected any foreign peacekeeping force as inadmissible, calling the contemplated guarantees a danger for Europe.