European leaders set to hold emergency summit on Ukraine

European leaders are expected to meet next week for an emergency summit in Ukraine war, in response to the concerns that the United States put forward with Russia on peace talks that will lock the continent.

Sir Keir Starmer, who should attend the summit in Paris, said it was a “unique moment for our national security” and that it was clear that Europe should play a greater role in the NATO.

This comes after Donald Trump’s special envoy in Ukraine said that European leaders are consulted but would not participate in talks between the United States and Russia to end the war.

Senior White House figurines, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubioshould meet Russian negotiators in Saudi Arabia in the coming days. US officials said Ukraine had also been invited – although President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country has received no invitation from this type.

In remarks likely to raise concerns in Ukraine and among the European allies, the special envoy Keith Kellogg said that previous negotiations had failed because too many parties had been involved.

“It may be like chalk on the blackboard, it can grate a little, but I tell you something that is really honest,” he said on Saturday.

Europe remains haunted by the Minsk agreements, a defaulting ceasefire contract between Ukraine and Russia reached in 2015. The talks, who were negotiated by France and Germany, sought to put At the end of the fighting in the Donbas region, in eastern Ukraine.

Sir Keir is supposed to see his role to bring us together and Europe to ensure a united approach to peace in Ukraine.

The British Prime Minister will discuss the points of view of European leaders when he visits US President Trump at the White House at the end of this month.

Another meeting of European leaders with Zelensky is expected after the return of Sir Keir from Washington.

Sir Keir said that the United Kingdom “would work to guarantee that we maintain the United States and Europe”, adding that the two could “allow the divisions of the distracting alliance” of “external enemies”.

“This is a unique moment for our national security when we are committed to the reality of the world today and the threat that we are confronted with Russia,” he said.

“It is clear that Europe must play a greater role in NATO while we are working with the United States to ensure the future of Ukraine and face the threat that we face Russia. “”

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that Emmanuel Macron had called for the summit of European leaders, who has not yet been announced by the French president.

Sikorski said: “President Trump has a operating method, which the Russians call recognition by the fight. You push and you see what’s going on, then you change your position, legitimate tactics. And we have to answer.”

Earlier on Saturday, Zelensky called for the creation of a “Army of Europe” In the midst of increasing concerns, the United States may no longer come to the continent.

Speaking at the Munich security conference, he said that the speech of the American vice-president JD Vance at the event had clearly indicated that the old relationship between Europe and America “ended” And that the continent “had to adapt to this”.

But Zelensky also said that Ukraine “would never accept the agreements concluded behind our back without our involvement” after Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to start peace talks.

Earlier this week, the American president announced that he had a long telephone conversation with the Russian chief and that the negotiations to stop the “ridiculous war” in Ukraine would begin “immediately”.

Trump then “informed” Zelensky of his plan.

Trump seemed confident that his style of leadership could open the way to a peace agreement in Ukraine.

His rapprochement with Putin put an end to more than three years of silence between Moscow and Washington.

Trump’s shock announcement rekindled the memories of his meeting with Putin in Helsinki in 2018.

The two men held almost two hours of closed -door talks in the Finnish capital and then delivered a joint press conference, where Trump defended Russia for interference allegations during the 2016 American presidential election.

His comments came despite the conclusion of American intelligence agencies, in 2016, that Russia was behind an effort to tip the scale of the US elections against Hillary Clinton, with a campaign of cyberattacks and false news on social networks.

On Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also had a telephone call with the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs “relying” on “the February 12 call between Trump and Putin.

High officials of the Trump administration will start peace talks with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Saudi Arabia in the coming days, American representative Michael McCaul said in Reuters.

McCaul, President of the Chamber’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said he understood that Zelensky had been invited to participate in Saudi talks, who aimed to organize a meeting with Trump, Putin and the Ukrainian president “to finally bring peace And put an end to this conflict “.

One day earlier, Vance had launched a Burning attack on European democraciesSaying that the greatest threat to the continent was not Russia and China, but “from the inside”.

In a speech at the Munich security conference, he repeated the Trump administration line that Europe must “intensify significantly to provide for its own defense”.

David Lammy said that the United Kingdom and EU countries were to spend more in defense, Europe faced with an “existential question” even in the event of negotiated peace in Ukraine.

The British Foreign Minister declared on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference “Putin will not disappear”And that, although it is positive, 23 NATO countries now spent at least 2% of their GDP in defense, “we all know that we have to go up”.

Additional reports by Malu Cursino.