BRUSSELS ― Emmanuel Macron is planning to host a group of European leaders on Thursday, March 27, to discuss Ukraine and security in Europe, three officials told POLITICO.
French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed next week’s summit with the “coalition of willing” and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he left the European Council meeting on Thursday night.
“We will finalize our work on short-term support for the Ukrainian army, on defending a sustainable and durable Ukrainian army model to prevent Russian invasions, and then on the security guarantees that European armies can provide,” he said.
The summit is a follow-up to Macron’s February and March gatherings of European and NATO leaders in Paris to discuss defense guarantees for Ukraine and the wider continent.
The attendees will be “broader circle” of leaders, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a press conference at the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels, adding that countries who met in London — including those who joined video call — will “probably” be at Thursday’s meeting. The Swedish PM said he had been verbally invited to the summit.
The meeting will come as European leaders scramble to boost the European Union’s defense capacities in the face of threats from Russia and drastic changes to U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump. It also reflects increasing political buy-in for a “coalition of the willing” ― a number of EU countries with others, possibly including Canada and Turkey ― to step in to support Ukraine.
On Monday, representatives of the U.S. government will meet diplomats from Moscow and Kyiv in Saudi Arabia to negotiate a possible ceasefire agreement.
Johanna Sahlberg contributed reporting.
