Vladimir Putin insists the US is “serious” in its aim to take over Greenland – and warns NATO countries over their actions in the Arctic. It comes as Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer reveal plans for a “reassurance force” in Ukraine after a peace deal is signed. Follow the latest here.
Thursday 27 March 2025 18:36, UK
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By Europe correspondent Adam Parsons, in Paris
As summits go, this one had the feel of a tempting, high-end takeaway meal. You look forward to it and it tastes great.
The delivery is superb, but it’s all over with disconcerting speed and then, an hour or two later, you’re wondering if you ever actually ate anything.
What we got here were lots of good wishes, plenty of diplomatic heft and a torrent of words. Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelenskyy all praised the summit and built up the idea that Europe was united like rarely before, standing at a crucial juncture.
Each spoke with enthusiasm and fluency. Each emphasised their disdain for Russia’s promises and their desire to push Russia. There was a new phrase called into action – a “reassurance force” that might be in place to police a ceasefire.
But then there were the ingredients that were missing. For one – real clarity about what is being planned, or demanded. About how Russia can be persuaded, much less forced, into stopping its aggression.
And desperate caution over the taut relationship with the United States. When I asked Starmer how he could possibly rely on an administration whose senior figures had described European leaders as “pathetic” and “freeloaders”, he dodged the question.
Another colleague asked for details about a deadline that the prime minister had referenced – what, and when, was it, he asked. What became clear was that the leaders had not actually agreed to impose a deadline as we might understand it, but had actually concluded that there should be a deadline. At some point. And about something.
Progress was made, and it should not be downgraded. It’s clear that military planning and intelligence will come from Europe to a greater level that it had done previously, and that there is a consensus that the Ukrainian armed forces will need to be bolstered for the long term.
There is also a growing sense that Europe needs to drastically improve its military preparedness, by spending more, working together more and by building more of its own equipment. The days of buying quite so much from the Americans are, quite clearly, under review.
The problem is that Trump and his team are operating in a way that feels alien to the members of this self-styled coalition of the willing. The president is prone to make huge disruptive promises, and then leaving others to either pick up the pieces or else to reverse engineer their way to some kind of result.
Thoughtful deliberation, for so long the bedrock of diplomacy, appears absent, And European leaders, who tend to love a bit of debate and pondering, don’t quite know how to react.
European leaders reaffirmed their long-term support for Ukraine during today’s summit in Paris, agreeing on the need for more support for Ukraine.
But they appeared to make little progress on what role they might play in providing security guarantees if a peace deal is struck with Moscow.
It was the third summit of what France and Britain have called the “coalition of the willing”.
Here is what we learnt…
Reassurance force
Emmanuel Macron announced that a “reassurance force” in Ukraine will act as a security guarantee and be deployed the day after a peace deal. The term is different to the “peacekeeping” force that has been discussed and was a British and French idea at the request of Ukraine.
The force is in a planning phase, but that it will not be a substitute for peacekeeping troops maintaining any ceasefire.
Sir Keir Starmer said the force would be “designed to deter” in order to “send that message to Putin that this is a deal that is going to be defended”.
French and British teams to be sent to Ukraine
Macron said it was decided today to mandate the coalition’s foreign ministers to come up with proposals for how a ceasefire could be monitored.
They have three weeks to present it.
Additionally, Macron said Britain and France will send a delegation to Ukraine to work with Kyiv’s armed forces to help them plan for the future.
Russian sanctions not to be lifted just yet
Macron also said it was “unanimously agreed” at the meeting today that “now is not the time for lifting sanctions in any way”.
He also said the “coalition of the willing” aimed to “maintain economic pressure on the [Russian] shadow fleet and on some industrial capabilities, and we will stay mobilised on this issue”.
That comes after the US said it will work towards lifting some sanctions on Russia.
Minerals deal
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Washington was “constantly” changing the terms of the minerals deal after he was asked about the deal with Donald Trump – and specifically whether he would venture back to the US to sign it.
Just to note here, Zelenskyy’s infamous White House clash with Trump and his vice president JD Vance took place hours before the deal was meant to be signed.
The Ukrainian leader pointed out he was keen to work with Washington.
At least two people have been killed after Russian shelling in Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson, officials report.
Regional governor, Roman Mrochko, said on Telegram that “massive shelling” killed a 55-year-old woman and a man at a public transport station.
At least five people were wounded, he added.
A city train station also came under shelling, Ukraine’s state railway company said.
Since Russia’s invasion, Kherson has regularly come under shelling and drone attacks by Moscow’s troops.
The regional capital was captured by Russia at the beginning of the war but it was liberated by Ukraine months later.
There is a feeling in Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s camp that they don’t have the US anymore and so they are looking to Europe, our Europe correspondent Adam Parsons says.
He says that in this “rapidly changing geopolitical world”, the Europeans are trying to “get behind Ukraine” and “push for a diplomatic and military solution”.
And yet around them is this “disconcerting vision of America and Russia becoming closer”.
“That worries a lot of diplomats,” Parsons says.
“They want to be seen as united and offering their own response but what that response actually looks like is still very vague.”
Parsons also notes that Zelenskyy has been “almost biting his tongue” when it comes to the US.
“He knows he shouldn’t criticise Donald Trump. But when it came to Steve Witkoff, UN special envoy to the Middle East, he seemed to take the brakes off and referred to him being on another planet,” Parsons says.
“There’s a feeling in Zelenskyy’s camp they don’t have the US anymore so they are looking to Europe.”
Continuing on this theme, Vladimir Putin says Russia will defend its interests in the Arctic as geopolitical rivalries intensify in the region.
Having claimed (see previous post) that NATO member states have been looking to the far north as a “foothold for possible conflicts” Putin says NATO member states have been carrying out an increasing number of military drills in the Arctic
He says Russia has “never threatened anyone in the Arctic”, but “we are watching recent developments very closely”.
Saying the “numbers of military servicemen in the Arctic will be rising”, he adds: “We are developing our response capabilities by upgrading our military infrastructure.
“We will not allow an encroachment of the sovereignty of our country…we will protect our national interests.”
However, he goes on to talk about the potential for cooperation with “friendly states…possibly including Western countries” in the Arctic region.
“I am confident that the time for such projects will definitely come,” he said.
It should be noted here the Russia leader is keen to ramp up commerce via the Northern Sea Route through Arctic waters as his country shifts trade towards Asia and away from Europe because of Western sanctions imposed on Russia due to the war he launched.
Early in his address, Vladimir Putin makes some intriguing comments about Donald Trump’s repeated statements around the US taking over Greenland.
The Russian president says those ambitions were not a surprise and should be taken seriously.
“It would be a grave mistake to think that this is just some eccentric talk of the new American administration, nothing of the kind,” he said.
He says similar plans were first raised by Washington in the 1860s, but that a proposal to annex Greenland and Iceland was rejected by Congress.
“Those plans have deep historic roots and it is obvious that the US will continue to promote their geopolitical, military and economic interests in the Arctic.
“As for Greenland, I think that this is an issue that concerns two states and has nothing to do with us.
“However, we are concerned by the fact that the NATO countries increasingly identify the far north as a foothold for possible conflicts.”
Vladimir Putin is now delivering an address to members of the International Arctic Forum.
Watch in the live stream above – and we’ll bring you any updates of note from his speech here.
As the news conference enters its final stages, Volodomyr Zelenskyy speaks about Moscow’s refusal to accept the ceasefire plan put forward by the US – one which Ukraine had agreed to.
He first appears to implicitly criticise Washington’s response to that development, saying: “The Russians didn’t accept the unconditional ceasefire.
“In my opinion, I believe that after that, [US] sanctions should have been introduced”
However, in a shift presumably driven by a desire to avoid antagonising Donald Trump again, he quickly says: “Okay, let’s just make a pause and not just go on and advise America what to do. They have their own people who can advise, but nonetheless the Russians have not accepted it.”
The news conference has now wrapped up.
The Ukrainian leader is now asked if he can trust the Americans.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy in response says he has not really succeeded in pressuring the US for the production of patriot missiles.
“It’s hard to explain to those who live in a different dimension,” he says.
Discussing the realities of leading a nation at war, he says: “Compared to the country at war, the entire world lives at a very slow pace.”
He then casts his attention to Steve Witkoff, US special envoy to the Middle East.
“He says things and it sounds like he says it for us. They look abstract.
“This is from another world. For us, these people are from another planet.”
He goes on to say “this is not an accusation of somebody”.
“We just live in different realities, in different worlds,” he adds.
An interesting line from the Ukrainian leader now.
“We have agreed that Europe will be represented by France and Britain – Starmer and Macron,” he says.
He says this is important.
“This is a clear position and we would like to send this signal,” he says, adding it “undoubtedly” be heard by the US.
He doesn’t expand on exactly he meant by that.
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