French President Emmanuel Macron invited a group of European leaders to Paris for urgent consultations on Ukraine and continental security, as Washington's renewed contact with Moscow raised fears that Europe could be sidelined in negotiations over the war. The meeting was planned for February 17.
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski publicly confirmed the invitation during the Munich Security Conference. He said Prime Minister Donald Tusk intended to attend and urged European governments to show unity and strength. Reporting from Ukrainian diplomatic sources said President Volodymyr Zelensky was not expected at that particular gathering. The proposed format centred on France, Germany and Poland, with additional European participants.
The initiative followed President Donald Trump's telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and announcements that US officials would begin discussions with Russian representatives. Keith Kellogg, Washington's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, said European governments would be consulted but would not directly participate in talks. Accounts differed over whether Ukraine had been invited to planned meetings in Saudi Arabia: US officials said it had, while Zelensky said Kyiv had received no invitation.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was expected in Paris. He described the moment as a rare and consequential test of national security, arguing that Europe needed to shoulder more responsibility within NATO while keeping the United States engaged. Starmer planned to carry European views to a later White House meeting and emphasized that divisions among allies would benefit their adversaries.
The diplomatic shock was compounded by US Vice President JD Vance's Munich speech. Vance argued that Europe's gravest danger arose internally, criticizing restrictions on political speech and migration policy. He also called on European states to provide more of their own defence. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius rejected Vance's depiction of European democracies, while Zelensky interpreted the address as evidence that the established transatlantic relationship was changing.
Ukraine's president separately called for a European army and said Kyiv would not accept an agreement negotiated without its involvement. His intervention reflected a central concern surrounding the emerging US-Russia channel: decisions over Ukraine's security and territory could not be durable if Ukrainians were excluded.
The Paris consultation was therefore designed to coordinate a response rather than conduct peace negotiations itself. European governments faced several connected questions: how to preserve Ukrainian participation, how to influence Washington, how much more to invest in defence and how to respond to political criticism from the new US administration. The planned summit offered Macron a way to bring those positions together quickly, even as the participants and agenda were still taking shape.
