French President Emmanuel Macron will host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Elysee Palace on Wednesday evening to prepare for a security summit to be held on Thursday, the Elysee Palace said, UNN reports, citing Le Monde.
Details
"The Head of State will once again state to President Zelenskyy that France will make the continuation and strengthening of military and financial support for Ukraine its absolute priority," the French President's office said in a press release during a meeting between the two presidents at the Elysee Palace on Wednesday evening.
The aim of the meeting will be to "prepare" the summit to be held the following day in Paris of countries in the "coalition of the willing" ready to provide security guarantees to Ukraine, the Elysee Palace added. Before the bilateral meeting and working dinner, the leaders of the two countries will make statements to the press.
Addition
The new summit on "peace and security for Ukraine" is a continuation of meetings held in Paris and London in recent weeks to establish "security guarantees" for Ukraine as part of a possible future peace agreement with Russia.
The new version should allow to "complete" the work on "short-term" military support for Ukraine, on a "sustainable and long-term model of the Ukrainian army to prevent Russian invasions [in the future]" and on "security guarantees that European armies can provide", including through ground deployment on Ukrainian territory, the French president said last week.
According to a diplomatic source contacted by Agence France-Presse, more than twenty countries from the European Union and/or NATO have been invited, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Norway and Turkey.
At the same time, Emmanuel Macron continues his national reflections on strengthening defense efforts in France and in Europe in the face of American desire for disengagement. For the third time in recent weeks, on Tuesday evening he will host Head of Government François Bayrou and several ministers for a working meeting on the issue of additional military spending they deem necessary and their financing.