France and Britain are discussing a partial one-month truce between Russia and Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron and his foreign minister said, amid a flurry of European diplomacy aimed at shoring up western support for Kyiv.
The truce would not include ground fighting, and Keir Starmer, the UK Prime Minister, said on Monday that the continued flow of military aid to Ukraine, combined with maintained economic pressure on Russia, would be vital to a "just and lasting" peace.
“Such a truce on air, sea and energy infrastructure would allow us to determine whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is acting in good faith when he commits to a truce. And that's when real peace negotiations could start,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Monday.
Mr Macron has called on European countries to increase their defence spending to at least 3 per cent of GDP as the continent considers how to defend itself without the US following Washington's shift away from Ukraine. Mr Macron has been pushing the idea of a one-month truce followed by the posting of European peacekeepers on the ground.
Europe must “desensitise itself” from the US by “massively investing at national and European level”, Mr Macron told the French daily Le Figaro after a meeting in London on Sunday with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as well as heads of state from the EU, Turkey and Canada.
The meeting was called as European leaders rushed to show their support for Ukraine after what was widely viewed as a disastrous meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump at the White House. “We must prepare for the future by setting a target of around 3, 3.5 per cent of GDP,” Mr Macron said. Many European countries struggle to reach the 2 per cent of GDP defence investment threshold set by Nato.
Strengthen US alliance
While Britain’s Prime Minister has already committed to 2.5 per cent within two years, he argued that Europe had to deepen its alliance with the US to protect the continent from Russian aggression. “I want to be crystal clear, we must strengthen our relationship with America for our security,” said Keir Starmer in a statement to parliament. “They are and always will be indispensable.”
He said the fractious meeting between President Donald Trump and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House on Friday was “something nobody wants to see”. But he welcomed President Trump’s “continued commitment to peace, which nobody in this House could doubt for a second is sincere”.
Events are moving rapidly in Europe, with Mr Starmer, alongside President Macron, spearheading a “coalition of the willing” to assist Ukrainian security in the event of a peace deal. Mr Starmer committed troops and aircraft to Kyiv following the summit in London on Sunday, but said in his statement that “no aspect of my role plays more heavily from the deployment of British crews in the service of defence and security in Europe”.
Security guarantees
But Mr Macron clarified that there would be “no European troops on Ukrainian soil in the coming weeks” as part of the truce proposal. “The question is how we use this time to try to obtain an accessible truce, with negotiations that will take several weeks and then, once peace is signed, a deployment,” he said. “We want peace. We don’t want it at any price, without guarantees.”
Mr Zelenskyy, asked if he was aware of the plan mentioned by Mr Macron, told reporters in London: “I'm aware of everything.” He said on social media that he needed “real security guarantees”.
“Of course, we understand the importance of America, and we are grateful for all the support we’ve received from the United States,” Mr Zelenskyy said. “What we need is peace, not endless war. And that’s why we say security guarantees are the key to this.”
His message appeared at odds with that of Eleonore Caroit, a deputy in the French National Assembly for the Renaissance party, who said that plans for a ceasefire in Ukraine sent “a very strong message” and showed that “if we want, we can do something" on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“It’s not despair, but seeing your strongest and longest ally, the US, have the attitude that they had a few days ago is of concern of course,” she said. “And this shows that we’re capable of making proposals and that these proposals can lead somewhere.”
Ukraine should be the first to agree to a ceasefire, the UK's ambassador to the US, Lord Mandelson, told ABC News. “We need a very radical reset. The reset has to consist of the US and Ukraine getting back on the same page,” he said. “Ukraine should be the first to commit to a ceasefire and defy the Russians to follow.” His comments do not represent government policy, the UK's Minister for the Armed Forces Luke Pollard said.
Nuclear sharing in Europe?
The Kiel's Institute Ukraine tracker shows that after three years of war, the EU has overtaken the US in terms of overall aid but that the US has donated more military aid to Ukraine than Europe. In total, Europe has allocated €70 billion in financial and humanitarian aid and €62 billion in military aid. The US has donated €64 billion in military aid and €50 billion in financial and humanitarian allocations.
Mr Trump's dramatic shift away from Ukraine and towards Russia has left Europeans moving urgently to adjust their defence strategies. In a major policy shift, the incoming German chancellor Friedrich Merz has called for discussions with Europe's two nuclear powers, the UK and France, on “nuclear sharing”, because the US cannot be relied upon any more.
France is open to discussions on that, Mr Macron said, though he will probably face an uphill battle to sell the idea at a national level after the powerful far-right politician Marine Le Pen said it was off the table. Dismissing Ms Le Pen's opinions on Ukraine as “not serious”, Mr Macron told Le Figaro that allies could be involved in “exercises of deterrent forces” but that the ultimate decision-maker on using the nuclear bomb would be France.
“The President of the Republic takes the totally sovereign and always confidential decision to use nuclear weapons. But General de Gaulle and my other predecessors have always said that vital interests have a European dimension,” Mr Macron said.
Charles de Gaulle, a hero of the Second World War who led France from 1959 to 1969, was known for his ambivalent attitude towards the US. In 1966 he pulled France out of Nato's integrated command, and it did not reintegrate until 2009.
