By Faith Barbara N Ruhinda updated at 21:53 EAT on Thursday 27 March 2025

As leaders from the 30 countries came together in Paris today under the banner of the “coalition of the willing”, a message was sent out to the world: Europe is united. Europe is strong.

Relations between the US and Ukraine have cooled in recent weeks following that explosive meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, President Trump and Vice-President JD Vance. And so, a lasting and secure peace in Ukraine was top of the agenda in the French capital today.

“Europe is mobilising on a scale not seen for decades,” British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told reporters following the talks, but was quick to add that American support was still needed for a ceasefire agreement.

There was talk of a “reassurance force”, with European countries deploying troops to Ukraine once a ceasefire is reached, and an agreement at the summit that it would be a mistake to lift sanctions on Moscow now.

Zelensky, dressed in his usual military attire, said he has no plans to meet with Trump as Ukrainian and American teams work towards a deal on rare earth minerals. He further called on the US to be stronger against Russia, and said he was leaving the summit feeling motivated.

An agreement to cease fighting was secured in separate deals between the two countries and the US in Saudi Arabia at the start of this week.

However, Vladimir Putin now says that this will only come into force when Western sanctions against its food and fertiliser trade are lifted.

During his press conference today Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters that the US informs him that this deal – as well as another agreement not to hit energy targets – is working.

But, he stressed that all the countries at today’s summit agreed that Russian sanctions should not be lifted until the war is over.

As a result, he rejected the Kremlin’s suggestion that this should be part of any deal on an end to naval fighting.

This impasse means that it is currently unclear when exactly the agreement is meant to come into force.

Bulgaria is offering to establish a co-ordination centre to monitor commercial shipping – and keep an eye on “all potential hostile actions” in the Black Sea.

Following today’s summit in Paris, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rossen Jeliazkov said the restoration of commercial shipping was extremely important.

He added that a co-ordination group would increase the resilience of critical underwater infrastructure in the Black Sea.

The aim is to establish guidelines for navigation and to carry out monitoring activities – by air and by water, as well as critical infrastructure, and all potential hostile actions in the Black Sea,” he said.

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk says the nations in the summit have “the same position when it comes to the necessary effort on our part to maintain the best possible relations with the United States. Even if the circumstances are not always favourable”.

He adds: “Poland will very effectively support all actions for peace, stabilization, and righteous resolution of this war. Above all, when we effectively defend our border and the entire eastern border of NATO and the European Union.”

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis says “a common thread in today’s discussions is that we must reach a ceasefire as soon as possible”.

On Greece’s position, he adds: “Greece does not belong to the countries that are ready to send troops to Ukraine, within the framework of an “alliance of the willing”.

“And it also believes that this whole discussion may be a bit disruptive and not allow us to focus on the main thing, which is none other than how we will achieve at this moment the end of the war an hour earlier, and this can only be done through an initial ceasefire.”

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