Macron to host Ukraine allies to discuss security guarantees

Samy Adghirni, Bloomberg News on Sep 1, 2025

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French President Emmanuel Macron will host a summit of Ukraine’s top allies on Thursday to follow up on last month’s talk of security guarantees amid shrinking hopes of a rapid ceasefire.

The meeting of the so-called "coalition of the willing," which will be attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in person and a number of other leaders virtually, will assess its next steps to assist Kyiv as Russia still refuses to commit to a ceasefire, the French presidency said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear whether the U.S. would participate in the talks and if so, at what level. Defense ministers would meet virtually the day before, according to the French defense ministry.

Thursday’s meeting comes in the wake of European leaders’ summit on Ukraine with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 18. Trump voiced approval for security guarantees for Ukraine, leading Kyiv’s other allies to start sketching out what form those assurances could take.

France and the U.K., along with other allies, have long sought to assemble a coalition to guarantee Ukraine’s security militarily in order to deter Russia from launching any further attacks. The U.S. has suggested it could provide air and intelligence support to any such postwar force operating in Ukraine.

European leaders are also calling for tighter sanctions on Russia as they lose patience with the U.S. president’s reluctance to more strongly pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin into ending his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. president’s latest two-week deadline to Moscow is close to expiring, with little clear progress made toward a peace deal.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Sunday said he hasn’t given up hope that a ceasefire can be secured in Ukraine, though was not under any illusions that the process would be quick or easy.

“I am preparing myself inwardly for the possibility that this war could go on for a long time,” Merz said in an interview with public broadcaster ZDF.