Feb 18 (Reuters) – Europe will invest more in security and lead on providing guarantees to Kyiv, but cooperation with Washington to secure peace remains crucial, European leaders said after an emergency meeting held ahead of U.S.-Russia talks on Ukraine on Tuesday.
French President Emmanuel Macron pulled together an urgent meeting after U.S. President Donald Trump arranged between envoys from Washington and Moscow in Saudi Arabia and excluded European allies and Ukraine from them.
“Europe is ready and willing to step up,” NATO boss Mark Rutte said on X after the meeting. “To lead in providing security guarantees for Ukraine. Ready and willing to invest a lot more in our security.”
Working together with Washington on safeguarding any agreement to end the war in Ukraine remains key, officials said.
“Everyone feels the great sense of urgency,” Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on X. “At this crucial time for the security of Europe we must continue to stand behind Ukraine.”
“Europe will have to make a contribution towards safeguarding any agreement, and cooperation with the Americans is essential,” he said.
It remains unclear, however, how Europe will engage Washington after Trump stunned Ukraine and European allies calling last week Russian President Vladimir Putin, long ostracised by the West, without consulting them.
“We agree with President Trump on a “peace through strength” approach,” a European official said after the Paris meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The U.S. decision has sparked a realisation among European nations that they will have to do more to ensure Ukraine’s security.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who before the meeting said he was willing to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, said on Monday there must be a U.S. security commitment for European countries to put boots on the ground.
Keith Kellogg, Trump’s Ukraine envoy, said he would visit Ukraine from Wednesday and was asked if the U.S. would provide a security guarantee for any European peacekeepers.
“I’ve been with President Trump, and the policy has always been: You take no options off the table,” he said.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said his country would never accept any peace deals reached behind its back or without Kyiv’s involvement.
US AND RUSSIA TO MEET IN SAUDI ARABIA
Tuesday’s scheduled talks between senior U.S. and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia, the highest-level in-person discussions between the two nations in years, are meant to precede a meeting between Trump and Putin.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met on Monday with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Riyadh as well as U.S. national security adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, also part of the U.S. negotiating team.
On the Russian side, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov were due to take part, the Kremlin said.
But there were signs of differences of approach.
Rubio’s spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the conversation would determine if the Russians were serious about peace talks, “about perhaps if that first step is even possible”.
The Kremlin said the talks would focus on “restoring the entire complex of Russian-American relations” and Russia has ruled out conceding territory.
On arrival in Riyadh, Ushakov said talks on Ukraine will be strictly bilateral, Russia’s RIA state news agency reported.
“We came to negotiate with American colleagues,” RIA cited Ushakov as saying. “There can be no trilateral talks in Riyadh.”
Russia’s sovereign wealth fund chief Kirill Dmitriev will meet a U.S. delegation in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to focus on strengthening ties and increased economic cooperation, a source in Riyadh said.
CNN quoted Dmitriev denying that Russia primarily sought to alleviate sanctions and said the U.S. and Russian economies could both benefit from working together.
“I think it’s very important to build bridges. I think U.S.-Russia relations are very important for the world,” he said.
“I think the promise is: let’s have dialogue, let’s figure out the best solution for our countries, for other countries, for the global community.”
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Reporting by John Irish and Elizabeth Pineau in Paris, Andrew MacAskill in London, Anderew Gray in Brussels, Humeyra Pamuk in Riyadh and Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Writing by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Michael Perry
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
Suggested Topics:EuropeUkraine and Russia at War
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