France Hosting Second Meeting on Ukraine With More EU States, Canada Invited

France plans to convene a second meeting on Ukraine and European security on Wednesday, with Paris extending invitations to more European countries and NATO ally Canada, which were not part of the first gathering.

European leaders met in Paris for a Ukraine and security summit, but several heads were absent.

The development comes after the US and Russia held peace talks in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, on Tuesday regarding Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The discussions marked the first high-level contact between the two countries since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Following the meeting, the two countries agreed to appoint “high-level teams” to work on ending the conflict in Ukraine, which will mark its third anniversary on Saturday.

European states, which were not included in Tuesday’s talks, are anxious that President Donald Trump’s administration might attempt to cut a deal with Moscow over Ukraine that could undermine Kyiv’s territorial integrity.

They also fear that any deal that overly favors Russia could embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin, further jeopardizing European security.

Concerns heightened after US envoy to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Keith Kellogg, said on Saturday that European countries, apart from the two warring nations, will most likely be consulted but ultimately excluded from talks.

European leaders meet in Paris for Ukraine and security summit, but several heads absent

Other Topics of Interest

UK-Funded Poll Shows 63% of Ukrainians Approve of Zelensky

Although the Ukrainian president remains popular, he could face competition from General-turned-ambassador Valery Zaluzhny.

In response to the mounting fears, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted an informal summit of handpicked nations on Monday, including Poland, Britain, Germany and Italy, as well as representatives from the NATO alliance and the EU executive.

The emergency summit in Paris aimed to assess potential security guarantees for Ukraine and discuss how Europe can move faster to increase defense spending.

However, some EU countries were unhappy that the meeting was only for selected leaders and not an entire EU summit.

The summit on Wednesday will feature a broader panel, Reuters reported, citing three diplomats. Those invited include Norway, Canada, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Finland, Romania, Sweden and Belgium.

The format would be hybrid, including video participation.

See the original here.