France and Britain have agreed to deploy an international force in Ukraine after a peace deal with Russia is reached. Both countries are committing to send troops to Ukraine and to build up military hubs in the country.
"All the peace treaties that Russia has signed in the last 15 years have been broken. That is why we want strong security guarantees," said French President Emmanuel Macron at the press conference after the meeting.
The guarantees include US-led monitoring of the ceasefire and a provision that Ukraine's armed forces would consist of 800,000 men in peacetime, which is in line with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's 20-point peace plan that he presented in December after talks with US President Donald Trump.
"Ready to connect"
A crucial part of the agreement is the US's willingness to participate. The country's willingness to lead monitoring of a possible ceasefire and peace is therefore seen as central.
"There is a common understanding between the US and Europe about what the security guarantees should look like," says Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, pointing out that American participation has been unclear.
"Now it is clear that the United States wants to participate."
The consistent message thus stands:
"We stand ready to pledge politically and legally binding guarantees that will be activated when a ceasefire comes into force," as EU Council President António Costa writes on X.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy notes that the meeting has yielded real results, and that the country is getting closer to a peace agreement every day.
"These are not just words, they are concrete," he says, pointing to both the common agreement within the coalition of the willing and the Franco-British binding promise of an international force.
What does Russia say?
However, the countries only "broadly" agree on the security guarantees, says US envoy Steve Witkoff.
"We look forward to further progress in further meetings so that when this is over, it is over forever."
However, all the words and agreements are based on one thing: that Russia is willing to accept an agreement, which Moscow has not signaled so far. This was also acknowledged at the press conference.
"This does not mean there will be peace, but thanks to this meeting we have come closer to a peace agreement," says Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and envoy.
