Ukraine’s Zelensky meets Macron in Paris to bolster European backing amid US-led peace talks and battlefield pressure from Russia
PARIS: President Volodymyr Zelensky met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday to reinforce European support for Ukraine.
The diplomatic push comes as Washington advances a peace plan championed by US President Donald Trump.
European capitals fear the US proposal risks caving to Russian demands over Ukrainian territory.
Zelensky’s visit follows “productive” talks between US and Ukrainian negotiators in Florida on Sunday.
“There’s a good chance we can make a deal,” Trump declared aboard Air Force One.
Zelensky described the US discussions as “very constructive” in a social media post.
He stated decisions on Ukraine’s “further activities” would follow a debrief with the returning delegation.
The situation is complicated by a corruption scandal that forced the removal of Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, last week.
“Ukraine’s got some difficult little problems,” Trump noted, referring to the political turbulence.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called it “a pivotal week for diplomacy.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Florida talks were productive but “there’s more work to be done.”
Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, is due in Moscow for follow-up talks with Russian officials on Tuesday.
The original US 28-point proposal, drafted without European input, was seen as reflecting Moscow’s demands.
It would have required Kyiv to withdraw from the eastern Donetsk region.
An updated blueprint was issued after criticism from Kyiv and Europe, though its contents remain unclear.
On the battlefield, Russia’s offensive continues to grind forward after over three-and-a-half years of war.
Russian forces targeted Ukraine’s capital with deadly air strikes two nights in a row over the weekend.
A Ukrainian security source claimed responsibility for attacks on two oil tankers in the Black Sea.
The tankers were allegedly covertly transporting sanctioned Russian oil.
One of Russia’s largest oil terminals halted operations on Saturday following a drone strike.
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which owns the terminal, called it a “terrorist attack.”
Ukraine regularly targets Russian energy facilities to sap the country’s war funding. – AFP
