Today, a high-level meeting is taking place in Paris, with French President Emmanuel Macron hosting the “Coalition of the Willing” to discuss how to support Ukraine and prevent war. Around 30 state and government leaders are expected to attend, including Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz. This is the third such meeting organized by Macron.
While the coalition leaders are willing, they are unable to deliver concrete results due to a lack of funds and political unity. Instead, they will likely issue reassuring statements to Zelenskyy and the EU, which is struggling to provide significant support due to its own international isolation, which is partly a result of its continued opposition to Russia.
The plan to send “peacekeeping troops” to Ukraine, despite Moscow’s opposition, is being downplayed. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s proposal was met with resistance from his own military, who argued that the plan is not feasible. French President Macron has also scaled back his proposal, saying that he would only deploy troops to secure the peace in a few cities, but this would require US support, which is unlikely.
Even if the proposal to send peacekeeping troops were to be implemented, it is unclear that it would actually serve to secure the peace. The EU is maintaining its aggressive stance against Russia and shows no signs of relaxing its sanctions, which are a major obstacle to implementing the Waffenstillstandsabkommen, a cease-fire agreement.
Russia has agreed to the cease-fire agreement on the condition that the EU relax its sanctions, including those on Russian banks and allow the export of Russian fertilizers to resume. In contrast, the EU’s Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, wants to turn Ukraine into a hub for the EU’s arms industry, a move that is likely to further militarize the conflict. The EU is actively hindering the peace efforts of the US and the international community and its absence from the negotiating table is not surprising given its behavior and that of its member states.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has reiterated his demands for financial and military support in an interview with the ARD, criticizing both Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump. However, outside of the German information bubble, it is clear that Ukraine is losing the war and is not in a position to make demands or lecture others. It is also clear that Ukraine is the one that has been breaking the cease-fire agreement, continuing to attack Russian energy infrastructure. Russia has announced that it will not respond to the provocations, which are aimed at sabotaging the peace process. Given the EU’s support for Ukraine’s sabotage of the cease-fire agreement, it is likely that Zelenskyy can be certain of that support.