Sawt Falasteen - European leaders meet on response to US Ukraine shift

With European policymakers leaving the annual Munich Security Forum dazed by Vice President JD Vance's withering attack on the European Union, key EU leaders, as well as UK Premier Sir Keir Starmer, were in Paris for the summit.

In the most concrete sign yet of the US policy shift, the top diplomats of the United States and Russia were Tuesday due to have the first such face-to-face meeting since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, a clear sign Trump wants to bring President Vladimir Putin in from the cold.

Facing one of their biggest challenges in years, European leaders fear that Trump wants to make peace with Russia in talks that will not even involve Kyiv, let alone the European Union.

Trump sidelined Kyiv and its European backers last week when he called Putin to talk about starting negotiations to end the conflict and said he could meet the Kremlin chief "very soon".

Other key participants in the summit include NATO chief Mark Rutte, Danish Premier Mette Frederiksen -- who has in the last weeks battled to rebuff Trump's territorial claim to Greenland -- and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Macron held telephone talks with Trump just before the summit, the French presidency said.

- 'Take practical steps' -

Macron has described Trump's return for a second term in the White House as an "electroshock" and there are initial signs some of his counterparts are being stung into action.

Britain's Starmer, aware of the importance of London showing commitment to European security after Brexit, said Sunday that he was willing to put "our own troops on the ground if necessary" in response to what he called "a once-in-a-generation moment for the collective security of our continent".

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, another key participant, said on Monday he would urge European leaders at the emergency summit to "immediately" boost Europe's defences, warning they do not match Russia's.

"We will not be able to effectively help Ukraine if we do not immediately take practical steps regarding our own defence capabilities," Tusk told reporters.

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

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Sunday it would fall to Europe to guarantee any peace deal in Ukraine, adding he expected the United States to "revise their level of commitment to NATO, including in terms of geography".

The American policy shift "requires that we truly wake up, and even take a leap forward, to take our place for the security of the European continent", Barrot said.

- 'Peace is still far off' -

But the notion of sending European troops to Ukraine -- even after a ceasefire -- was already causing friction within the European Union.

Spain's foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, however said that, while it was necessary for Europeans to meet and prepare decisions, "nobody is currently planning to send troops to Ukraine, especially because peace is still far off".

Germany on Monday agreed, with deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann telling reporters it was "premature" to talk about sending troops to Ukraine.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz had said late Sunday that negotiations on Ukraine's future could not be successful without European guarantees "that we will have created and accepted".

Meanwhile Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban is close to both Trump and Putin, said that Monday's conference was an effort to "prevent" peace.

"Today, in Paris, pro-war, anti-Trump, frustrated European leaders are gathering to prevent a peace agreement in Ukraine," said Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.

- 'Process to peace' -

The Paris talks come as Washington said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff would on Tuesday meet with a Russian delegation including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Riyadh ahead of a future meeting between Trump and Putin in the Saudi capital.

Rubio had earlier sought to play down expectations of any breakthrough at upcoming talks with Russian officials.

"A process towards peace is not a one-meeting thing," he told the CBS network.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was to visit Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, one day after the meeting between top US and Russian officials.

Zelensky had announced the trip along with stops the United Arab Emirates and Turkey last week without giving dates, adding he had no plans to meet Russian or US officials.

I.Yassin--SF-PST