French President Emmanuel Macron, in Washington for talks on long-term security guarantees for Ukraine, said France and Britain would hold a meeting on Tuesday with Kyiv's allies. But he warned against trusting Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he called "an ogre at our gates".
Ukraine's allies gathered on Tuesday to review the outcome of fast-moving talks aimed at ending the war, amid signs that Volodymyr Zelensky could meet Putin at a future peace summit.
Hopes of a breakthrough rose when the Ukrainian president and European leaders met US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, who said he had also spoken by phone with his Russian counterpart.
The Ukraine war, which has killed tens of thousands of people, has ground to a virtual stalemate despite a few recent Russian advances, defying Trump's push to end it.
A face-to-face meeting between Zelensky and Putin would be their first since Russia's brutal invasion nearly three-and-a-half years ago.
Macron said France and Britain would hold a virtual meeting on Tuesday of the so-called "coalition of the willing", to "keep them up to date on what was decided" at the talks in Washington and the "next steps" for Ukraine.
"Right after that, we'll start concrete work with the Americans," Macron told French news channel LCI.
Zelensky-Putin peace talks on the table after Washington summit
With regards to a Putin-Zelensky meeting, Macron suggested Geneva could host the talks, but said it was "up to Ukraine" to decide whether to make concessions on territory, including parts of the eastern Donbas region still under its control.
Switzerland said on Tuesday it would grant Putin immunity if he came to the country for peace talks on Ukraine, despite the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant.
Last year, the Swiss government defined "the rules for granting immunity to a person under an international arrest warrant. If this person comes for a peace conference – not if they come for private reasons", Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis told a press conference.
The last time there were bilateral talks, they were held in Istanbul he pointed out, referring to the three rounds of lower-level negotiations between Russia and Ukraine held in Turkey between May and July.
Pandora's box
On the topic of concessions, Macron said Ukraine will do what "it deems just and right", but stressed "let's be very careful when we talk about legal recognition.
"If countries... can say, 'we can take territory by force', (that) opens a Pandora's box."
The French leader accused Putin of "rarely honoured his commitments," and called the Russian leader a "predator, who for his own survival, needs to keep eating" – comments that underscored wider European wariness.
Putin "has constantly been a force for destabilisation. He has sought to redraw borders to increase his power," Macron said, adding he did not believe that Russia would "return to peace and a democratic system from one day to the next".
This did not mean that France would "come under attack tomorrow", Macron said, "but of course this is a threat to Europe (...) let's not be naive."
Trump-Putin summit ends without Ukraine deal
Trump – whose summit with Putin in Alaska last Friday failed to produce any ceasefire – wrote on his Truth Social network after Monday's meetings that "everyone is very happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine".
"At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky," he added.
Trump said he would then hold a three-way summit with the Ukrainian and Russian leaders.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who was part of the European delegation, said Putin had agreed to the bilateral meeting within the next two weeks.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday any peace deal on Ukraine must ensure Russia's security.
"Without respect for Russia's security interests, without full respect for the rights of Russians and Russian-speaking people who live in Ukraine, there can be no talk of any long-term agreements," Lavrov told state TV channel Rossiya 24.
(with AFP)
