France and the United Kingdom have agreed to deploy forces to support Ukraine in the event of a peace deal with Russia, among other security guarantees offered to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid talks with European leaders and U.S. officials on Tuesday.
At a joint press conference, French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that they signed a declaration of intent with Ukraine to provide boots on the ground to the eastern European country.
“This is a vital part of our iron-cast commitment to stand with Ukraine for the long-term,” Starmer said. “It paves the way for the legal framework under which British, French and partner forces could operate on Ukraine soil, securing Ukraine’s skies and seas and regenerating Ukraine’s armed forces for the future.”
U.S. Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, represented the U.S. at the meeting in Paris, weeks after they engaged in similar talks in Berlin aimed at a unified proposal to negotiate with Russia. Witkoff told reporters that a deal to provide security guarantees to Kyiv is “largely finished,” and expressed confidence in Ukraine’s safety from another Russian invasion.
Witkoff emphasized that Trump — who has sought to wrangle both parties to end the war — wants peace in Ukraine. But the U.S.’ participation in the high-level talks was complicated by Trump, who recently revived his call for a U.S. takeover of Greenland, a threat that’s being regarded more seriously after the U.S. attack on Venezuela and the capture of its president, Nicolás Maduro.
“We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security,” Trump told reporters Sunday. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, a key architect of the strikes on Venezuela, echoed that in an interview on CNN on Monday. Those threats have been roundly condemned by Danish lawmakers. European leaders issued a joint statement Tuesday defending Greenland, though they did not call out Trump by name. “Greenland belongs to its people,” they said. “It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News. Recommended
