France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, is due to meet the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, in high-level talks in Paris on Thursday as Washington and Europe seek common ground on ending the fighting in Ukraine and averting a conflict with Iran. A previously unannounced team of senior Ukrainian officials also flew into the French capital to meet the US and European delegations, as Donald Trump’s efforts to arrange a ceasefire three years after Russia invaded its neighbour remained fruitless. Rubio and Keith Kellogg, the US president’s special envoy to Ukraine, were due to join the talks with Macron, as well as the French and UK foreign ministers, Jean-Noël Barrot and David Lammy, and Jens Plötner, the foreign policy adviser to the outgoing German chancellor, Olaf Scholz. Besides the war in Ukraine, the US delegation – which includes Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff – was also due to discuss Washington’s efforts to reach a nuclear deal with Iran during the talks, officials said. Trump has indicated frustration with both Moscow and Kyiv, but European leaders’ concern has mounted as he heaped pressure and criticism on Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, while making diplomatic gestures to Russia’s Vladimir Putin. On Thursday, Zelenskyy said “pressure” must be put on Russia to end the war. “Russia uses every day and every night to kill. We must put pressure on the killers … to end this war and guarantee a lasting peace,” he said, after an overnight Russian strike on Dnipro killed three people. Moscow said the Paris meeting was a chance for Witkoff, who has held three meetings with Putin, to inform European officials of the peace talks’ current status. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said, however, that Russia so far saw “a focus on continuing the war” from the Europeans. Kyiv and its European allies say Moscow is to blame for rejecting Trump’s proposal of a ceasefire last month and hope to persuade the US to take a tougher line, particularly after a Russian missile attack on the city of Sumy on Sunday that killed at least 35 civilians. France, Britain and Germany were surprised by Trump opening discussions on improving ties with Russia, but have sought a coordinated European response to protecting Ukraine during the conflict and in any ceasefire. Britain and France have proposed that a mainly European “reassurance” force should go to Ukraine if a ceasefire starts. However, many European leaders say such a force would need US support. Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said his top-level delegation – which includes Ukraine’s foreign and defence ministers – would meet US, French, British and German officials, but did not specify who exactly they would talk to. The Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said the parties would discuss “ways to achieve a complete ceasefire, the involvement of a multinational military contingent to guarantee sustainable peace … and ensuring the security of our country”. A French diplomatic source had said earlier that Rubio and Barrot, the French foreign minister, would discuss “the war in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East and the Iranian nuclear file”. The trip is Rubio’s third to Europe since taking office. Witkoff plans to fly on to Rome after the Paris talks for a second round of discussions on Saturday with the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, about Iran’s nuclear programme. The two met for 45 minutes in Oman on Saturday. Both sides described those talks as positive, while acknowledging any deal was distant. Trump said on Monday he believed Iran was intentionally delaying a nuclear deal and that he was willing to bomb its nuclear facilities if one was not reached. On Tuesday, he held a meeting with top national security advisers at the White House focused on Iran’s nuclear programme, according to sources familiar with the encounter. The US president has restored a “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran since February after ditching a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers during his first term and reimposed crippling sanctions. Separately, the French defence minister, Sébastien Lecornu, would travel to Washington on Thursday for talks with the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, on a number of issues including Ukraine, Iran and Gaza, the ministry said. Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report
Author: Guardian staff and agencies