PARIS, March 28 (Xinhua) -- A summit convened in Paris on Thursday brought together European leaders to bolster support for Ukraine. However, despite presenting themselves as a "coalition of the willing," not all states appeared to be on the same page, with some wary of moving too far without U.S. backing.
FRANCO-BRITISH-LED COALITION
French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a range of initiatives to support Ukraine at Thursday's summit, amid growing uncertainty over continued U.S. assistance.
At a press conference following the summit of the "coalition of the willing," Macron announced a joint Franco-British plan to send a team to Ukraine to help shape the future structure of the Ukrainian army. Macron said that he and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer would "jointly lead" the coordination efforts of Ukraine's international coalition of allies.
He also raised the idea of deploying "reassurance forces" from a few willing European Union member states to strategic locations in Ukraine should a peace agreement be reached with Russia. The potential deployment would serve as a deterrent and form part of long-term security guarantees for Ukraine. However, "there is no consensus on this point," Macron acknowledged.
The summit followed Macron's announcement on Wednesday that France would provide an additional 2 billion euros (about 2.2 billion U.S. dollars) in aid to Ukraine. The package includes a range of weapons, such as anti-tank missiles, air defense systems and surface-to-air missiles.
Sebastien Lignier, head of the political department at the weekly magazine Valeurs Actuelles, expressed reservations about continued aid to Ukraine: "We are approaching 30 billion euros in total support for Ukraine, and there remains a cloud of uncertainty -- where is this money going? What alarms me is that we don't know what this is all leading to."
MANY INITIATIVES, FEW AGREEMENTS
The Paris summit produced a wave of proposals but few firm commitments. While European leaders voiced strong support for Ukraine, consensus on key initiatives proved elusive.
Aside from France's pledge of around 2 billion euros in new aid -- including warplanes and missiles -- no concrete funding commitments were announced on the financial front.
On deploying "reassurance forces," many leaders voiced uncertainty.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz remained cautious about the proposal put forward by Macron and Starmer to send European troops to Ukraine following a future ceasefire. He said Germany was "concentrating on what is immediately at hand" by continuing military support for the Ukrainian army.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has consistently expressed reservations about additional troops, also reiterated Rome's refusal to send forces to enforce any peace deal.
Starmer said the Paris meeting had made progress "in terms of numbers and intent" but admitted he could not yet say how many countries were willing to contribute troops or whether any progress had been made in securing U.S. backing for the initiative.
Even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged that "there are many questions" and "so far, there are few answers" regarding the proposed force, particularly about who would lead it and its mandate.
FURTHER DRIFT APART?
Thursday's meeting followed reports from the White House that Russia and Ukraine had agreed on the contours of a possible Black Sea ceasefire during parallel talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia.
European leaders, however, were united in their stance that sanctions against Russia should not be eased but intensified, marking a clear divergence from U.S. President Donald Trump's more conciliatory approach.
Tensions have been building for months. In February, U.S. Vice President JD Vance criticized Europe's approach to democracy and immigration during a speech in Munich. In a private Signal group chat, Vance reportedly showed disdain for Europe once again.
Some European leaders still hope for a shift in the U.S. position on military involvement. Meloni said she hoped the United States would participate in the next European meeting on Ukraine.
Macron also framed Thursday's summit as complementary to Washington's parallel efforts with Kiev and Moscow and underscored the importance of continued American support for any potential European deployment. However, Europe has growing concerns that the White House could ultimately sideline it in shaping any future settlement, according to POLITICO Europe.
Mary Dejevsky, a commentator for the British online newspaper The Independent, remarked, "The 'Coalition of the Willing' summit in Paris proved that the US and Europe are an ocean apart."
"What is becoming ever clearer," Dejevsky concluded, "is a deep rift between the two sides of the Atlantic -- one that may turn out to be unbridgeable." ■
