French President Emmanuel Macron has hosted senior United States officials in Paris for talks on ending the war in Ukraine, as Kyiv’s allies in Europe seek to play a larger role in stalled efforts to end the conflict amid tensions with Washington.
Speaking after he hosted US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US envoy Steve Witkoff on Thursday, Macron said the talks represented “a very important occasion for convergence”.
“Everyone wants to get peace – a robust and sustainable peace. The question is about phasing,” the French leader said.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has been pushing to end the Russia-Ukraine war, with Trump himself holding bilateral discussions with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
But so far, Trump’s efforts have not borne fruit, and the US president has expressed frustration with both Moscow and Kyiv.
Ukraine agreed to a Trump proposal last month for a ceasefire, but Russia rejected the idea. The sides have agreed only to curbs on attacks against energy targets and at sea, which both accuse each other of violating.
Meanwhile, the US’s overtures towards Russia over the past several weeks have raised concern among some European leaders, who urged Trump to ensure that Ukraine has a seat at the negotiating table in any negotiations.
Reporting from Paris on Thursday, Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra noted that the Macron-hosted talks marked a “strong indication that the Americans are trying to team up with the Europeans” to try to reach a ceasefire agreement.
Ahelbarra said there has been “a great deal of frustration and scepticism” among European leaders after the Trump administration indicated it planned to disengage from Europe and did not expect European countries to play a critical role in efforts to end the war.
“[Europe] would like to have a key role in the ceasefire talks because they say that they are the ones who can guarantee that the Ukrainians’ voice can be heard,” he added.
Zelenskyy urges pressure on Russia
Macron spoke to Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, by phone on Thursday in advance of the talks with Rubio and Witkoff, the French president’s office said.
Before that, Macron’s foreign policy adviser, Emmanuel Bonne, and his British and German counterparts met Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, who said they discussed the potential ceasefire and security guarantees.
“We exchanged views on the next steps toward achieving a just and lasting peace, including the implementation of a full ceasefire, the involvement of a multinational military contingent, and the development of an effective security architecture for Ukraine,” Yermak said on social media.
The flurry of diplomacy comes as Russia has continued to attack Ukraine, with Ukrainian authorities saying drone strikes and shelling killed at least 12 people on Thursday.
A Russian attack that killed at least 35 people in the northeastern city of Sumy on Sunday also drew widespread condemnation this week and renewed calls to end the war.
Zelenskyy had earlier on Thursday urged the leaders meeting in Paris to lean on Russia to agree to a ceasefire. “Russia uses every day and every night to kill. We must put pressure on the killers,” he said on Telegram.
Zelenskyy also accused Witkoff, the US envoy, of “spreading Russian narratives” after he suggested a peace deal with Russia hinged on the status of Ukraine’s occupied territories.
“I believe that Mr Witkoff has taken on the strategy of the Russian side,” Zelenskyy told reporters. “I think it is very dangerous, because he is consciously or unconsciously, I don’t know, spreading Russian narratives.”
Witkoff said this week that Putin was open to “permanent peace” after he held talks with the Russian president in Saint Petersburg, their third meeting since Trump returned to the White House in January.
In a statement following Thursday’s talks, the US State Department said Rubio spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
“The Secretary conveyed to his Russian counterpart the same message the US team communicated to the Ukrainian delegation and our European allies in Paris: President Trump and the United States want this war to end, and have now presented to all parties the outlines of a durable and lasting peace,” it said.
Russia’s foreign ministry confirmed the officials spoke by phone and said that Lavrov stressed Moscow’s willingness to continue dialogue with Washington “to reliably eliminate the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis.”
