Arthur de Laborde via AFP / Photo credits: AMAURY CORNU / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP
Around twenty heads of state and government, mainly European, are meeting on Monday in Paris at the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron to reaffirm their support for Ukraine, in a critical situation facing Moscow and whose fate hangs in the balance. Western aid. The victory or defeat of Ukraine “depends on you”, President Volodymyr Zelensky told his allies on Sunday, who will address the meeting organized at the Elysée presidential palace by videoconference.
The vast majority of European leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish President Andrzej Duda, and the Prime Ministers of around 15 EU countries, will be present at this meeting. “President Putin’s Russia must not count on any weariness among Europeans,” the French head of state assured X on Saturday, the two-year anniversary of the Russian invasion.
At a time when American support, crucial for Kiev, is still blocked in Congress, and when the possibility of Donald Trump’s return to the White House is giving the EU a cold sweat, Emmanuel Macron calls on Europe to ” collective burst” against Russia. The increase in cyber and information attacks from an “increasingly aggressive” Russia will also be discussed during the meeting, according to the Elysée, which castigates Russian “intimidation” maneuvers. American and Canadian representatives will participate in the meeting, as well as the head of British diplomacy David Cameron.
“Crush the idea of defeat”
The goal is to “remobilize and examine all means of supporting Ukraine effectively”, indicates the Elysée, at a time when kyiv, lacking arms and ammunition, finds itself in a very difficult situation facing Russia. “It’s about contradicting the impression that things are falling apart, reaffirming that we are not tired and that we are determined to stop Russian aggression. We want to send a clear message to Putin that he will not win in Ukraine”, insists the French presidency.
“We are neither resigned nor defeatist,” insists the Elysée, “there will be no victory for Russia in Ukraine.” If new aid announcements are not planned, participants will examine ways to “do better and more decisively”, while Kiev affirmed on Sunday that half of the promised Western weapons are delivered late. “Everyone is doing everything they can in terms of arms delivery. We must all be able to do better together, each according to their abilities”, according to the French presidency, while certain Europeans, notably Paris and Berlin, are accuse more or less openly of not doing enough.
Several countries, including France, Germany and Italy, have signed bilateral security agreements with Kiev in recent weeks, but the EU, which has delivered 28 billion euros in aid since the start of the war military, is struggling to keep its commitments, particularly in terms of shell deliveries. “Europeans have the means to do significant things,” noted former American diplomat Debra Cagan at an Atlantic Council conference on Friday.
But “if Ukraine had already had the F16 fighter jets, if it had Germany’s Taurus (missiles), we would see an entirely different conflict today,” she added. “Indecision causes more death and destruction,” she warned. American aid of $60 billion has also been blocked in Congress for months. Ukraine is convinced that the United States will not “abandon” it in the face of Russia and will end up voting, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said on Sunday.