French president Emmanuel Macron estimated Wednesday, March 26, that Russia “showed his war will” by multiplying the conditions for a cease-fire, and announced 2 billion euros of additional military aid to Ukraine, on the eve of an international summit convened in Paris to support Ukraine. The leaders of 30 allied countries are expected this Thursday to “finalize” the “security guarantees” to be provided to kyiv in the event of a peace agreement with Russia.
Info to remember
⇒ New summit for peace in Paris
⇒ For Volodymyr Zelensky, Vladimir Putin “is afraid of the unity of Europe”
⇒ North Korea has sent 3,000 additional soldiers to Russia this year
08h05
Beijing can “convince” Moscow to join the negotiation table, according to Jean-Noël Barrot
The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, told Beijing Thursday that China could “convince” Russia to sit at the negotiating table, in order to put an end to the war in Ukraine.
Paris and Beijing “must coordinate to promote a fair and lasting peace in Ukraine” and “China also has a role to play to convince Russia to sit at the negotiating table with serious and good faith proposals,” he said alongside his counterpart Wang Yi.
07:30
A new Peace Summit in Paris
French President Emmanuel Macron brings together this Thursday morning in Paris the leaders of nearly 30 allied countries in Ukraine for a new summit of the “volunteer coalition”. In addition to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, already received on Wednesday evening at the Elysée, Emmanuel Macron will welcome in particular the British Keir Starmer, the Italian Giorgia Meloni, the German Olaf Scholz or the Turkish vice-president Cevdet Yilmaz. The boss of NATO Mark Rutte is also expected, as well as the leaders of the European Union.
Without waiting for American mediation to reach its ends, most EU countries and NATO states, marginalized by the discussions initiated by Donald Trump with Russia, want to advance on security guarantees for Ukraine.
07:00
North Korea has sent 3,000 additional soldiers to Russia this year, according to Seoul
North Korea deployed 3,000 additional soldiers in Russia this year in addition to the thousands already sent to support the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the South Korean army said on Thursday, stating that Pyongyang also continued to provide Moscow missiles, artillery and ammunition.
“It is estimated that 3,000 additional soldiers were sent in reinforcement between January and February,” said the South Korean staff, specifying assessing the North Korean soldiers killed or injured on the 11,000 initially deployed in Russia at 4,000.
Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have confirmed to date the presence of North Korean soldiers in Russia.
06:45
For Volodymyr Zelensky, Vladimir Putin “is afraid of the unity of Europe”
Vladimir Putin “is afraid of the unity of Europe and the United States” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during an interview on France 2 with several European channels. According to him, “the main objective is to divide and weaken the unity” of Europeans. “He tries to hit Europe from the inside, and he succeeded in part via the positions of Hungary” whose government sometimes blocks sanctions against Russia, he argued, adding that Ukraine, “defending himself, defends Europe”.
He also regretted that Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East and now also in charge of Ukraine, “quite often quotes the narrative of the Kremlin”. Finally, he asked to “get the assets that have been frozen”, to “spend them quickly for armaments”.
06:30
Washington will examine the Russian conditions, says Marco Rubio
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, traveling to Jamaica, recognized Wednesday that reaching a peace agreement between Moscow and kyiv “will not be simple” and “will take time”, nuancing optimism manifested for weeks by President Donald Trump.
He also said that the United States would examine Russia’s requests for the ceasefire with Ukraine in the Black Sea. “Obviously, after the meetings, as part of their press release, the Russians detail a certain number of conditions which they want to see fulfilled to achieve it,” he said. “So we will assess them, some of these conditions include sanctions that are not ours. They belong to the European Union,” he said.