Sawt Falasteen - European countries to meet in Paris on Monday to discuss security

US President Donald Trump blindsided Ukraine and its European backers last week by starting discussions on Russia's invasion in a call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The new US administration has also warned its NATO allies that Europe will no longer be its top security priority and it may shift forces too as it switches focus to China.

Macron's office said Sunday European leaders would meet in Paris on Monday afternoon to discuss "the situation in Ukraine" and "security in Europe".

"The heads of government of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark" will be attending the "informal meeting", it said.

Antonio Costa, who heads the European Council representing the European Union's 27 nations, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO secretary general Marc Ruttewould will also be present.

The Kremlin has pushed for negotiations -- set to kick off in Saudi Arabia in coming days -- to discuss not just the Ukraine war as it nears a third anniversary but also broader European security.

That has sparked fears among European nations that Putin could revive demands he floated prior to the 2022 invasion aimed at limiting NATO forces in eastern Europe and US involvement on the continent.

- European 'input'-

But US Secretary of State Marco Rubio played down expectations Sunday of any breakthrough at upcoming talks with Russian officials on ending the war in Ukraine.

"A process towards peace is not a one-meeting thing," he told the CBS network as the Munich Security Conference wrapped up.

"Nothing's been finalised yet," he said, adding that the aim was to seek an opening for a broader conversation that "would include Ukraine and would involve the end of the war."

Costa on Sunday said the security of the European Union and of Ukraine were intertwined.

"There will be no credible and successful negotiations, no lasting peace, without Ukraine and without the European Union," he wrote on X.

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told France Inter radio earlier on Sunday: "Only the Ukrainians can decide to stop fighting."

The Ukrainians "will never stop as long as they are not sure that the peace that is suggested to them will be long-lasting," he added.

"Who can provide the guarantees? It's the Europeans."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had on Saturday called for the creation of a European army, arguing the continent could no longer count on Washington.

Zelensky said there should be "no decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine" or "about Europe without Europe".

Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, on Saturday said Europe would not be directly involved in talks though it would still have an "input".

Asked whether Europeans would be at the table, Kellogg responded: "I'm of the school of realism, I think that's not going to happen."

- 'Sustainable peace'? -

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has appeared to rule out Ukraine joining NATO or retaking all of its territory lost since 2014.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb in Munich on Sunday said that talks between the United States and Russia over the Ukraine war must not rewrite European security.

"There's no way in which we should open the door for this Russian fantasy of a new, indivisible security order, where it can do spheres of interest," he said.

Finland shares a 1,300-kilometre (800 mile) border with Russia.

Oleksandra Matviichuk, a Ukrainian rights activist whose NGO was co-winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, said "civil society" also needed a voice in any negotiations.

"If the goal is to achieve sustainable peace, for sure, you have to get civil society on the table," Matviichuk, who is head of the Center for Civil Liberties, told AFP in Munich.

"There is a difference between a ceasefire, which can be violated just in an hour, and getting a sustainable peace, which provides a freedom to live without fear of violence," she added.

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V.AbuAwwad--SF-PST