France’s Minister of Armed Forces will host his counterparts from Germany, Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom on Wednesday to coordinate their support for Kyiv, his office announced on Friday.
The five ministers will meet following a gathering organised by French President Emmanuel Macron with European military chiefs aiming to ensure future peace in Ukraine.
European leaders have stated that peace in Ukraine should be achieved by force, and given the recent US decision to suspend military aid to Ukraine, the ministers will discuss coordinating their countries’ support for Kyiv, according to sources close to Sébastien Lecornu.
They will also discuss the necessary rearmament of Europe and their respective countries to ensure long-term collective security.
This marks the third in-person meeting for the defence ministers of these five nations, following earlier sessions in Berlin in November and Poland in January.
Emmanuel Macron, in collaboration with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and other European leaders, is working on a peace plan to prevent rushed ceasefire negotiations between the US and Russia.
The goal is to discuss the potential deployment of European forces in Ukraine to ensure the peace agreement is fully respected, rather than participating in front-line combat, explained President Macron.
