French President Emmanuel Macron emphasised on Tuesday that any peace settlement in Ukraine must come with strong and credible security guarantees to prevent future conflict. His statement followed a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“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,” Macron wrote on X. He warned that without such measures, any ceasefire could collapse like the Minsk agreements of 2014 and 2015, which failed to prevent renewed Russian aggression.
The call came after Macron hosted an emergency meeting in Paris with European leaders to discuss concerns over the US stance on Ukraine under President Donald Trump. European officials fear Trump could negotiate peace with Russia without involving Kyiv or the European Union.
Zelensky, in his own statement on X, confirmed that Macron had briefed him on the Paris talks. He stressed that Ukraine and its allies shared a common vision that any peace deal must include strong security assurances.
“Any other decision without such guarantees—such as a fragile ceasefire—would only serve as another deception by Russia and a prelude to a new Russian war against Ukraine or other European nations,” Zelensky warned.
