France, Britain push one-month truce in Ukraine
French President reveals ceasefire push as Zelensky says he is still prepared to sign a mineral deal with the United States.
France and Britain have proposed a one-month truce in Ukraine “in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure” after crisis talks in London, French President Emmanuel Macron says.
Macron told France’s Le Figaro newspaper the truce would not, at least initially, cover ground fighting.
That was because the size of the frontline in Ukraine made it too difficult to check any ceasefire was being respected, he said.
Macron’s update came after a emergency summit of European leaders in London on Sunday, which followed Friday’s explosive altercation between US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zelensky, who was at the London talks, said on Monday (Australian time) he was willing to sign a minerals deal with the US – and believes he can salvage his relationship with Trump.
But he reiterated that Ukraine would not concede any territory to Russia as part of a peace deal.
It follows Friday’s extraordinary meeting in the Oval Office where Trump accused Zelensky of being ungrateful for US aid, of showing disrespect to his country and of risking World War III, casting into doubt Washington’s ongoing support for Ukraine in its three-year-long war with Russia.
Macron said peacekeepers would be deployed later, under the British and French plan.
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“There won’t be European troops on Ukrainian soil in the coming weeks,” he said.
Macron also suggested that European countries should raise their defence spending to between 3-3.5 per cent of GDP to respond to Washington’s shifting priorities and Russia’s militarisation.
“For three years, the Russians have spent 10 per cent of their GDP on defence,” he said.
“We have to prepare for what’s next.”
Zelensky – while apparently in good spirits and thanking European countries for their support – was careful to balance his dismay with the events in Washington with a clear desire to keep talking with the US.
“I think our relationship will continue,” he said.
“I do not think it’s right when such discussions are totally open. … The format of what happened, I don’t think it brought something positive or additional to us as partners.”
He said he did not think the US would stop aiding Ukraine, because it would not want to help Russian President Vladimir Putin. But he said he remained prepared for any outcome.
“The US are… leaders of the civilised world, and they will not help Putin,” he said.
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Arriving at Downing Street on Sunday, a visibly shaken Zelensky was met with a warm embrace from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and cheering from supporters.
At the summit Starmer said European leaders had agreed to draw up a Ukraine peace plan to take to the US, in the hope that Washington would offer the security guarantees Kyiv says are vital to deter Russia.
Starmer urged European leaders to join the so-called “coalition of the willing” alongside France and Britain. It is aimed at keeping the peace if the Ukraine war is brought to a negotiated end.
He said the leaders had agreed to “meet again very soon” to continue work on the plans.
“We are at a crossroads in history today,” he said.
“This is not a moment for more talk. It’s time to act. Time to step up and lead, and to unite, around a new plan for a just and enduring peace.”
Following the gathering at Lancaster House in central London, Starmer announced a £1.6 billion ($A3.2 billion) deal that would allow Ukraine to purchase 5000 air-defence missiles using export finance.
Immediately after the summit, Zelensky was also bolstered by a meeting with the King at his Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
The abrupt ending to Zelensky’s Washington trip meant that the two countries failed to sign a much-vaunted minerals deal that Kyiv hoped would spur Trump to back Ukraine’s war effort. Zelensky said Ukraine was still willing to sign it.
“We agreed upon signing it; and we were ready to sign it. And honestly I believe the United States would be ready as well,” he said.
Trump had sought to cast the minerals deal as a way for Ukraine, which is home to a trove of lithium deposits and rare earth minerals, to repay the US for its billions of dollars in aid.
While Zelensky sought to avoid further antagonism of the US, he was more forceful on any future ceasefire deal, saying Ukraine would not hand sovereignty of its occupied land to Russia.
“Everyone needs to understand that Ukraine will never recognise whatever is occupied by Russia as Russian territories,” he said.
“We hope that these security guarantees will make it 100 per cent impossible to give Russia the opportunity to come with another aggression”.
Zelensky said there had been contact between Kyiv and Washington since Friday’s bust-up, although not at his level. Asked if he had considered resigning, he showed no sign of wavering.
