While the U.S. was negotiating a potential peace deal with Ukraine, on Tuesday, March 11th, 34 chiefs of staff from NATO and European Union member countries met in Paris with Emmanuel Macron to discuss how to handle the aftermath of the war. The aim was to agree on possible arrangements for military support to Ukraine against the backdrop of ceasefire negotiations.
The President of the French Republic had, in his own words, invited “the chiefs of staff of the countries that wish to assume their responsibilities.” The meeting was held in close collaboration with NATO’s military command, on the sidelines of the Paris Defence and Strategy Forum organised by the Defence Academy of the École Militaire. Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia took part in this meeting, which also brought together the highest-ranking officers of the French, German, Italian, and British armies.
The United States, however, was not represented: by deliberate choice, the American chief of staff was not invited. “Not to bully, but to show Washington that the Europeans are ready to take on their responsibilities,” the French general staff explained to the press. The Americans were, however, present through their active involvement in NATO’s military command structure.
The meeting had multiple objectives, including establishing the framework for potentially sending European troops to Ukraine and advancing the common European defence project. The discussion, which included specific operational aspects, was classified as a defence secret, and no information has been leaked at this stage.
At the same time, a meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, between American and Ukrainian officials resulted in an agreement for a thirty-day ceasefire, coupled with the resumption of U.S. aid to Ukraine. Despite Russia’s rejection of the plan, this development, alongside the potential for direct exchanges between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, highlights all the more starkly the operational ineffectiveness of Macron’s initiatives.
In view of the latest negotiations between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States, Macron said it was time to move from “concept to plan” with regard to the guarantees to be given to Ukraine. France and the United Kingdom are at the forefront of troop commitments, despite a lack of consensus across Europe. Poland is showing reluctance, while Hungary and Slovakia are openly opposed. The French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, assures that the troops sent would be “peacekeeping troops for the purposes of observation, reassurance or de-escalation.”
While Zelensky believes that a security force of 200,000 men would be necessary, the figures mentioned at the meeting would be much lower, according to the British press: up to 100,000 men, cumulatively by air, land, and sea. A non-combat force away from the front line could be deployed around the strategic points of Kyiv, Odessa, or Lviv. The air forces of London and Paris would be responsible for surveillance of the sensitive areas of the Baltic countries and Romania. As a member of NATO, Turkey could deploy its navy in the Black Sea.
Though the United States was not invited, there is no question of doing without it. Participants at the Paris conference insisted that the resources deployed should not be separate from NATO and its capabilities: the expected European show of military force has therefore reached its limits, despite the proactive statements of Macron, who believes that “this is the moment when Europe must throw its full weight behind Ukraine, for its own sake.”
