French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will hold a videoconference on Sunday at 13:00 GMT with the countries of the ‘coalition of the willing’ allied with Kyiv to prepare for the next stages of peace talks on Ukraine, the Elysée Palace announced on Saturday.
These consultations will take place on the eve of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's trip to Washington and in the wake of the summit in Alaska between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"The President of the Republic will co-chair a videoconference meeting of the Coalition of Volunteers tomorrow at 15:00 (13:00 GMT) with Prime Minister Starmer and Chancellor Merz, following yesterday's (Friday) meeting in Alaska and ahead of President Zelenskyy's trip to Washington on 18 August," the French presidency said.
Ukraine's allies are expected to discuss at this meeting the issue of security guarantees that would be granted to Kyiv as part of a possible peace agreement. They are also expected, according to diplomats, to examine what the outlines of such an agreement between Ukraine and Russia might be.
Following his summit with Vladimir Putin on Friday, Donald Trump announced that his efforts were now focused on drafting a peace agreement to end the war, without going through the stage of a ceasefire.
The coalition of volunteers includes most of the major European countries, the EU, NATO, and non-European countries such as Canada.
