Europe divided over troops for Ukraine, after Trump triggers crisis meeting

Berlin: European leaders remain divided over sending troops to Ukraine after a crisis meeting intended to reach a consensus on how to respond to US President Donald Trump’s shock peace talks with Russia.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz – who faces election at the weekend – said he was “a little irritated” about the debate, which was taking place “at the wrong time” with a brutal war still afoot, and that there could be no division of security and responsibility between the United States and Europe.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris.Credit: Getty Images

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said a “US security guarantee” was the only path to peace in Ukraine, and the “only way to effectively deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again”.

While Starmer said he was prepared to offer “boots on the ground”, Germany, Poland and Spain all signalled reluctance to dispatch peacekeeping forces to the war-torn country amid warnings the region’s security was at a turning point. Starmer said Ukraine’s future was not the only thing at stake.

“It is an existential question for Europe as a whole, and therefore vital for Britain’s national interests,” Starmer said. “This is a once-in-a-generation moment for the collective security of our continent.

“Europe must play its role, and I’m prepared to consider committing British forces on the ground alongside others if there is a lasting peace agreement.

Spanish and Bulgarian troops take part in a NATO exercise in Bulgaria last week.Credit: Getty Images

“So I will go to Washington next week to meet President Trump and discuss what we see as the key elements of a lasting peace.”

French President Emmanuel Macron had hoped the Paris summit – also attended by the leaders of Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Britain, Denmark and the European Union, alongside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte – would also yield plans to help European countries boost defence spending.

Meanwhile, top US officials have arrived in Saudi Arabia for the most high-profile talks with Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as the Trump administration pushes for a way to end the three-year war.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, along with National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, gathered in the Saudi capital, where they were expected to meet a Russian delegation on Tuesday.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) meets with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh.Credit: AP

Russian state news agency TASS said the talks would be “devoted primarily to restoring the entire complex of Russian-American relations”.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv “will not take part” in the talks and “did not know anything about it”.

Speaking from Abu Dhabi, Zelensky added: “Ukraine regards any negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine as ones that have no result, and we cannot recognise ... any agreements about us without us.” He is in the UAE for separate negotiations with Russia on prisoner exchanges and securing the return of Ukrainian children from Russia. Ahead of the US talks, Russia released an American citizen who had been detained since February 7 on charges of possession of a small amount of marijuana, The New York Times reported.

At a NATO meeting last week, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth made it clear that Europe would have to bear the responsibility for upholding any peace deal negotiated by Washington.

The European allies are now racing to respond to the Trump administration’s shock announcement of talks with Russia, which broke a previous diplomatic isolation of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Next week will mark the three-year anniversary of Putin’s order to invade sovereign Ukraine.

Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, annoyed Europeans in Munich on Monday when he said Putin’s continued diplomatic isolation was unrealistic, and that he foresaw a meeting between Russia and Ukraine with the US as some sort of mediator. But Kellogg admitted that there was no fixed American plan, and that he and other officials were in “listening mode”.

The Financial Times reported that France had proposed discussing a “reassurance force” that would be stationed behind, not on, a future ceasefire line in Ukraine, according to three officials briefed on the preparations for the meeting.

While Starmer has said he was “ready and willing ... [to put] our own troops on the ground if necessary”, other countries are much more reluctant.

Speaking after a meeting, Germany’s Scholz said “there must be no division of security and responsibility between Europe and the United States” and any peace deal must allow Ukraine to keep pursuing membership of the European Union.

“NATO is based on us always acting together and sharing the risk, thereby guaranteeing our security,” he said. “This must not be called into question.”

Although Poland has significantly increased defence spending since the war began and is usually relatively hawkish, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Warsaw was not prepared to send troops to Ukraine.

“But we will support, also in terms of logistics and political support, countries that will possibly want to provide such guarantees in the future,” Tusk said.

While Trump has largely portrayed the war in Ukraine as a battle for territory, Russia has said there can be no end to the fighting until the “root causes” of the conflict have been addressed.

For Moscow, analysts say this is essentially about installing a “neutral” or even pro-Moscow government in Kyiv and eliminating what Putin has said is the threat from NATO to Russian national security.

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