PARIS (AP) 鈥 France hosted high-level talks Thursday to discuss Ukraine and its security, the first time since President Donald Trump's inauguration that top American, Ukrainian and European officials are known to have met together to discuss an end to the war.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff joined other top Ukrainian and European officials for hours of separate meetings at the French presidential palace before French President brought them all together for a final round of talks at the end of the day.
Macron described the talks as an important 鈥渃onvergence." France announced that talks in the same format would continue in London next week.
The meetings came as concerns grow about and after weeks of U.S. efforts to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine failed to bring an end to the fighting. There is also frustration among Europeans over the Trump administration鈥檚 other moves, from tariffs on some of its closest partners to and .
The American view in Paris
Rubio wrote on X that the American delegation in Paris was looking to 鈥渟ecure real, practical solutions to end the Russia-Ukraine war."
Rubio also spoke by phone Thursday with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, conveying the same message he gave the delegations in Paris, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
鈥淧resident Trump and the United States want this war to end, and have now presented to all parties the outlines of a durable and lasting peace,鈥 the statement says. 鈥淭he encouraging reception in Paris to the U.S. framework shows that peace is possible if all parties commit to reaching an agreement.鈥
Until now, Trump鈥檚 officials have pursued separate negotiating tracks between the United States and Ukraine, and between the U.S. and Russia.
Senior U.S. officials had previously made comments suggesting European representatives would not be involved in ceasefire negotiations. Experts said the talks are thought to be the first time Witkoff 鈥 Trump's chief envoy tasked with negotiating with Russian President 鈥 has met senior Ukrainian officials.
Alina Polyakova, president of the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington, called this "really, really important. And I think that is emerging because I think the U.S. process has stalled and ... they realized that you need European input because they have skin in the game.''
鈥淭his is not just about a swath of territory in Ukraine,鈥 she said. "This is about broader questions of European security and you can鈥檛 disentangle those.鈥
Ukraine's goals
Ukrainian President said he wanted his representatives to raise the question of security guarantees for Ukraine, and said he gave his team a mandate to discuss a full and partial ceasefire 鈥 but not matters relating to the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
A senior French official said after Thursday鈥檚 talks that U.S. officials were 鈥欌檙eady to discuss security guarantees,鈥 without elaborating. The official spoke anonymously as he was not authorized to be publicly named, according to presidential policy.
Ukraine's presidential adviser, Andrii Yermak, said the Ukrainian delegation and European partners discussed the next steps toward achieving a 鈥渏ust and lasting peace,鈥 including a full ceasefire, the deployment of a multinational military contingent, and the development of an effective security architecture for Ukraine.
鈥淚t was a very substantive conversation. We continue our work,鈥 he wrote.
Trump鈥檚 special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, also joined the talks. Other participants included Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, the German government鈥檚 foreign policy adviser and German Foreign Ministry鈥檚 political director.
A coalition of the willing
Around 30 countries led by Britain and France have been discussing a possible coalition to police any with Russia.
The success of the coalition鈥檚 operation hinges on , but the Trump administration has made no public commitment to provide support which European officials say is critical.
Polyakova, from the Washington group CEPA, suggested peace efforts have so-far failed because Putin does not want a ceasefire and is stalling for time. The Trump administration's strategy so far has been to offer Russia 鈥渓ots of carrots" but 鈥渧ery few sticks鈥 to bring Moscow to the negotiating table, she said.
The question 鈥渋s whether these talks in this format will shift the administration鈥檚 strategy,鈥 she added.
Macron spoke with Zelenskyy twice during the day and has spoken frequently with Trump in recent weeks. France hailed Thursday鈥檚 meetings as a diplomatic success borne from those relationships.
Attacks as pressure
Hours earlier, a hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Wednesday night, killing three people, including a child, regional authorities said.
Ukrainian government officials and military analysts have said that Russian forces are preparing to launch a fresh military offensive in the coming weeks to maximize pressure on Kyiv and strengthen the Kremlin鈥檚 negotiating position .
Rubio and Witkoff have helped lead U.S. efforts to seek peace more than three years after Russia launched the war. Several rounds of , and with Putin.
Moscow has effectively refused to accept a comprehensive ceasefire that Trump has pushed and Ukraine has endorsed. on a halt in Ukraine鈥檚 mobilization efforts and Western arms supplies, which are demands rejected by Ukraine.
At Thursday's talks in Paris, Macron also discussed the impact of Trump鈥檚 tariff policies and the conflicts in the Mideast.
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Burrows reported from London. Associated Press writers Illia Novikov and Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
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