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After bringing together several European leaders, I have just spoken with President @realDonaldTrump and then with President @ZelenskyyUa. We seek a strong and lasting peace in Ukraine. To achieve this, Russia must end its aggression, and this must be accompanied by strong and credible security guarantees for the Ukrainians. Otherwise, there is a risk that this ceasefire will end up like the Minsk agreements."
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Macron wrote
To this end, Europeans want to accelerate the implementation of their own agenda for sovereignty, security, and competitiveness. Work will continue based on the European Commission’s proposals, both in supporting Ukraine and in developing and investing in our defense. This agenda, defined in 2022 at the Versailles Summit, must simply be carried out. Decisions, actions, coherence. Quickly. I will continue these discussions in the coming days
he continuedWe will work on this together with all Europeans, Americans, and Ukrainians. This is the key. We are convinced that Europeans must invest better, more, and together in their security and defense—both for today and for the future."
He addedIt’s all about what can be done for and with Ukraine, in anticipation of the United States doing less, and possibly in anticipation of having to guarantee a settlement or at least a ceasefire,
Lesser said
Increased spending at home, increased defense production, increased sizes of armies, increased intelligence cooperation, increased training — all of this is to happen, in addition to supplying Ukraine so its front line doesn’t collapse,
said Orysia Lutsevych, head of the Ukraine Forum at the Chatham House think tank in LondonIt’s a different White House and a different team,
she saidIt is now very clear to us that we must continue to support Ukraine. And it must and can rely on us that this will be the case. We welcome the fact that there are talks on peace development, but it must be and is clear to us — this does not mean that there can be a dictated peace and that Ukraine must accept what is presented to it,
Scholz said
The reality that returning to 2014 borders as part of a negotiated settlement is unlikely. The reality of U.S. troops in Ukraine is unlikely. The reality of Ukraine membership in NATO as a part of a negotiated settlement, unlikely,
Hegseth saidNow it’s crunch time to get this going — particularly in the short term, of course, in terms of not just maintaining but upping support for Ukraine, given it's very clear that the U.S. is not going to play a major role anymore in the way that it has under [former President Joe] Biden. But also for European defense and security in the medium to longer term, what that's going to look like? So, there are huge questions hanging over Europeans,
van Rij told VOAGiven the U.S. has taken itself out of the equation when it comes to … providing security guarantees for Ukraine or monitoring any kind of potential ceasefire that may happen, it’s really up to the Europeans to implement any kind of ceasefire or peace deal. So, you need the Europeans at the table to be able to discuss that, because otherwise, why would they sign up to something that's been discussed over their heads that commits their troops in a potential risk of direct conflict with Russia
van Rij told VOA
The threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, it's not China, it's not any other external actor. And what I worry about is the threat from within. The retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values,
Vance told delegates in Munich on FridayWe are witnessing tectonic shifts of the order structures and also of the positioning of major powers. We see that the United States wants to retreat from international organizations, so it is weakening structures of international order,
Schwarzer told ReutersThat's going to be a really difficult thing for many Europeans who are operating in a fiscally very constrained space,
van Rij saidNow is the time to invest, because you can't make an assumption that America's presence will last forever,
Hegseth said in a Friday speech in Warsaw
That may grate a little bit. But I'm telling you something that's really quite honest … when you looked at Minsk II [peace agreements], there was a lot of people at the table that really had no ability to execute some type of peace process, and it failed miserably. So, we're not going to go down that path,
Keith Kellogg, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, told delegates Saturday at the Munich Security ConferenceWhat has come as a surprise is the style in which this has been done. And that's been really breaking all the norms in terms of how diplomacy is conducted, essentially. Reality has hit very, very clearly,
she told VOA.jpg)
Europe must play its role, and I'm prepared to consider committing British forces on the ground alongside others, if there is a lasting peace agreement. ... But there must be a U.S. backstop, because a U.S. security guarantee is the only way to effectively deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again,
Starmer told reporters in Paris
But we will support, also in terms of logistics and political support, countries that will possibly want to provide such guarantees in the future,
Tusk said
This is not only a question about the future of Ukraine – it is existential for Europe as a whole."
Writing in the Daily Telegraph newspaper about what he called a "a once-in-a-generation moment for the collective security of our continent", ... he said
Nobody is currently considering sending troops to Ukraine. Peace is still very far away and for one reason only: Vladimir Putin.”
But Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said