Ukraine's future is at the center of talks in Paris with Rubio, Witkoff
and top European officials
[April 17, 2025]
PARIS (AP) — Paris is hosting a series of talks Thursday
about Ukraine and its security, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco
Rubio and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, French President Emmanuel
Macron and top Ukrainian officials.
Rubio arrived in Paris on Thursday morning. Rubio and Witkoff will have
“talks with European counterparts to advance President Trump’s goal to
end the Russia-Ukraine war and stop the bloodshed,” State Department
spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.
The meetings come as concerns grow about Trump’s readiness to draw
closer to Russia as he seeks to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine and his
administration's other moves, from tariffs on some of its closest
partners to rhetoric about NATO and Greenland.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Andrii Yermak, Foreign Minister Andrii
Sybiha and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov also arrived in Paris on
Thursday to take part in the talks.
Yermak described them as “a series of bilateral and multilateral
meetings with representatives of the states of the coalition of the
willing that are able to guarantee security.″ The Ukrainian delegation
is also to meet with U.S. officials, Yermak said.
Around 30 countries led by Britain and France have been discussing a
possible coalition to police any future peace agreement with Russia. The
success of the coalition’s operation hinges on U.S. backup with airpower
or other military assistance, but the Trump administration has made no
public commitment to provide support.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is also taking part in the Ukraine
discussions, along with the German government’s foreign policy adviser
and the Foreign Ministry’s political director.
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Children cry during a farewell ceremony for Maksym Martynenko, 11,
Natalia Martynenko, 49, and Mykola Martynenko, 41, killed in a
deadly Palm Sunday Russian attack on Sumy on April 13, in Stare Selo
village near Sumy, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy
Maloletka)
Macron will hold separate meetings with Rubio and Witkoff. Macron
also plans to discuss the impact of Trump’s tariff policies and the
conflicts in the Mideast, ″in a logic of de-escalation in the
region,″ Macron’s office said.
In Ukraine, a massive drone attack hit the city of Dnipro on
Wednesday night, killing three people including a child, the
regional leader 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’s negotiating position in ceasefire
talks.
Rubio and Witkoff have helped lead U.S. efforts to seek peace more
than three years after Russia launched the war. Several rounds of
negotiations have been held in Saudi Arabia, and Witkoff met last
week with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Moscow has effectively refused to accept a comprehensive ceasefire
that Trump has pushed and Ukraine has endorsed. Russia has made it
conditional on a halt in Ukraine’s mobilization efforts and Western
arms supplies, which are demands rejected by Ukraine.
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