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Trump hosts French leader to discuss Ukraine endgame

President Donald Trump said Monday he’s nearing a deal with Ukraine and with Russia to end the war in Ukraine after a packed day of meetings at the White House with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Trump urged Europe to take a bigger role in funding, and Paris pushed for more assurances from Moscow.

The U.S. president pushed his desire for a deal to end the war, which struck its grim third anniversary Monday. He has said this will include an agreement with Ukraine for its critical minerals — a deal he hinted could be signed as soon as next week by Ukraine’s president.

“There’s tremendous distrust on both sides,” Trump said. “That’s why it’s good that I’m coming in now. But I think it’s to the very much benefit of Russia to make a deal and to go on with leading Russia in a very positive way. That’s what you have to do. But I really believe that he wants to make a deal. I may be wrong, but I believe he wants to make a deal.”

Macron was more circumspect, correcting Trump in the Oval Office when Trump said Europe supported Ukraine with a loan. Macron then warned against trusting Moscow.

“Let’s try to get something first which … can be assessed, checked and verified,” he said in English. “And let’s be sure that we build sufficient guarantees in the short run. And this is where we are ready to be engaged. As for France, a lot of my European colleagues are ready to be engaged. But we do need this American backup, because this is part of the credibility of the security guarantees. And this is our collective deterrence capacity. And I have the feeling that the president has this capacity.”

Analysts spoke of what the two leaders accomplished in their meetings.

“It looks like they agreed to have European peacekeepers enforce the peace between Russia and Ukraine,” said William Pomeranz, a senior scholar at the Wilson Center Kennan Institute. “There are a lot of other side issues that I haven’t really been able to get a hold of, but yes, there are attempts to have a peace agreement and a use of peacekeepers to enforce the agreement between Russia and Ukraine.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed hope and emphasized the importance of Washington’s role.

“Our teams are already working productively with the U.S. on an economic agreement, which we hope to sign in Washington,” he said in English. “And President Trump, we would really like to hear from you, because all our people, all our families, are very worried: ‘Will there be support from America? Will America be the leader of the free world?’ And I want to be very honest, very honest with you: For our people, for life in general, it is so important that American support, American assistance remains.”

But other world leaders expressed concerns that Ukraine was kept out of high-level discussions in Saudi Arabia between Washington and Moscow. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who recently met with Zelenskyy in Ankara, also said Russia hasn’t always been part of the process.

“Apart from the Istanbul process, Russia has been excluded from the tables established so far, and therefore the desired result has not been achieved,” Erdogan said. “If results are to be obtained from the new process, Ukraine must definitely be included in the process, and this war must be ended through mutual negotiations.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that so far, talks have not been specific.

“During the phone conversation and at the meeting in Riyadh, we certainly touched on issues related to the Ukrainian crisis,” he said. “However, it was not discussed in essence. We only agreed that we would approach it. That being said, of course, we are not rejecting the participation of European countries.”

Some analysts warn that Trump’s idea of a deal is not advantageous to Ukraine.

“We have to see this as a move by Donald Trump to undermine the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — and in the worst case, as Trump advocating for Russia’s position, which has been in the past that elections have to be part of a negotiation process in Ukraine, although it’s an entirely Ukrainian domestic issue,” said Liana Fix, a fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“So, it’s not only a back and forth between Trump and Zelenskyy. We do see a broader realignment here of U.S. policy towards a normalization of relations with Russia, where Ukraine is perceived as a problem to this normalization,” she said.

Meanwhile in Europe, as Ukraine somberly marked Monday as the third anniversary of the war, Paris’ most famous icon, the Eiffel Tower, burned brightly in the yellow and blue colors of the Ukrainian flag.
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At UN, competing resolutions on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine approved

The U.N. General Assembly marked the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine by narrowly approving competing resolutions on ending the war, one drafted by Kyiv with the European Union, and a second from the United States.

“Russia believed Ukraine would surrender. Russia believed we would fall in three days. Russia believed our government would flee. However, Russia miscalculated gravely,” Mariana Betsa, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, told the gathering, saying Ukrainians continue to stand firm and resist.

In the weeks leading up to the meeting, there was only the Ukrainian draft resolution, which reflected previous ones adopted by the 193-member body. That resolution included a reference to Russia’s “full-scale invasion of Ukraine” and called for a “comprehensive, just and lasting peace” in line with the United Nations Charter and “within its internationally recognized borders.”

Then late Friday afternoon, the United States put forward its own brief text, titled: “The Path to Peace,” which called for “a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and the Russian Federation.” It did not mention Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russia’s U.N. ambassador called the U.S. draft “a good move.”

“This is our opportunity to build real momentum toward peace,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Friday.

European diplomats met through the weekend to find a way to prevent the U.S. draft from undermining international support for Ukraine at a critical moment in the war. On Monday, they proposed three amendments to the U.S. text, all of which were adopted by the General Assembly.

They added language to the U.S. text that included replacing the wording “the Russia-Ukraine conflict” with “the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.” A paragraph was inserted that said: “Reaffirming its commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, extending to its territorial waters.” The paragraph also included language on supporting the U.N. Charter and the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of states.

When the amended U.S. text was put to a vote, Washington abstained on its own resolution. It was adopted with 93 states in favor, 8 against and 73 abstentions.

“These amendments pursue a war of words rather than an end to the war,” U.S. envoy Dorothy Shea said. “The attempt to add this language detracts from what we are trying to achieve with this forward-looking resolution: A firm consensus from the members of this body to unite behind a resolution calling for the end to this conflict.”

Russia also voted against the U.S. draft, because their attempt to amend it with language to address what it says are the root causes of the conflict was rejected by the Assembly.

“The essence of it has become completely distorted,” Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said, but he welcomed the U.S. move and said he hoped it would be followed by other new initiatives.

“I think that today, our American colleagues have seen for themselves that the road to peace in Ukraine will not be an easy one, and there will be many who will try to make sure the peace does not come for as long as possible,” Nebenzia said.

The Ukrainian resolution was approved to loud applause with 93 states in favor, 18 against and 65 abstentions. It was the weakest support Ukraine has had over the course of the last three years in the Assembly.

The United States voted against the Ukrainian text as did Russia, its allies Belarus and North Korea, several African states, European Union outlier Hungary, and Israel.

General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but they do carry the moral weight of the international community.

The United States is expected to still bring its original draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council later Monday for a vote. It would need the support of at least nine of the 15 members and no veto from any permanent member — Britain, China, France, Russia or the United States.

The Europeans have said they will bring their three amendments to the council for a vote as well. A senior State Department official said Monday that Washington would veto any amendments — European or Russian — to its original text.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was in Geneva on Monday, where he said countries “must spare no effort to bring an end to this conflict and achieve a just and lasting peace in line with the U.N. Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions.”

Macron in Washington

The diplomatic drama at the United Nations was taking place as French President Emmanuel Macron was at the White House for a meeting and lunch with President Donald Trump that included discussions about the war in Ukraine.

Macron said last week that he planned to tell Trump the U.S. leader “cannot be weak” in the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is due to visit Washington later this week for similar talks, and like Macron has emphasized the need for Ukraine’s sovereignty to be at the center of any peace effort.

A group of leaders including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited Kyiv on Monday in a show of support for Ukraine.

“We are in Kyiv today, because Ukraine is Europe,” von der Leyen said on X. “In this fight for survival, it is not only the destiny of Ukraine that is at stake. It’s Europe’s destiny.”

New EU sanctions on Moscow

European Union foreign ministers on Monday approved a new round of sanctions against Russia, which EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said include measures against ships that work to evade restrictions on transporting certain goods, banks that circumvent sanctions and equipment used to pilot drones.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the new sanctions “entirely predictable,” and said the European nations seemed to want the war to continue.

Fighting continued Monday with Russia saying it shot down 23 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 16 over the Oryol region.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Three years into Russia’s war on Ukraine, it’s business as usual for Kharkiv entrepreneurs

Russian forces have been shelling Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine almost daily since the start of their invasion three years ago. Despite the constant bombardment, local business owners continue working, and volunteers from all over the world are on hand to offer support.  Anna Kosstutschenko has the story. VOA footage and video editing by Pavel Suhodolskiy.
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Projectiles thrown at Russian consulate in France, one explodes, says security source

MARSEILLE, France — Two projectiles were thrown at the perimeter wall of Russia’s consulate in the southern French port city of Marseille on Monday, one of which exploded, a French security source said.

It was not immediately clear if the projectiles cleared the wall. BFM TV said the projectiles were Molotov cocktails and that they landed in the consulate’s garden.

Russia demanded a full French investigation and said the incident looked like an act of terrorism, state news agency TASS reported.

No one was injured, the security source said. Consulate staff were kept indoors and police set up a security perimeter around the consulate.

The incident in the southern French city took place on the third anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war.

“The explosions on the territory of the Russian Consulate General in Marseille have all the hallmarks of a terrorist attack,” TASS quoted Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.
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Ahead of UN action on Ukraine, US urges countries to vote no on rival European resolution

UNITED NATIONS — The United States is urging the United Nations General Assembly to back its resolution to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Monday, oppose any amendments and vote no on a rival text drafted by Ukraine and European allies.

In a diplomatic note sent on Sunday and reviewed by Reuters, the United States described its brief resolution as “a forward-looking resolution focused on one simple idea: ending the war.”

“Through this resolution, Member States can build real momentum towards international peace and security, the maintenance of which is the principal purpose of the United Nations,” it said, asking countries to “vote no on any other resolution or amendments presented” during Monday’s meeting.

The U.S. draft resolution, put forward on Friday, pits it against Ukraine and the European Union, which have for the past month been negotiating with U.N. member states on their own resolution on the war in Ukraine, which repeats the U.N. demand that Russia withdraw its troops and halt hostilities.

The 193-member U.N. General Assembly has overwhelmingly repeatedly backed Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders since the war began. The U.S. draft makes no reference to that.

The U.S. text mourns the loss of life during the “Russia-Ukraine conflict,” reiterates that the U.N.’s main purpose is to maintain international peace and security and peacefully settle disputes. It “implores a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.”

Proposed amendments

The 15-member Security Council is also set to vote on the same U.S. text later on Monday, diplomats said. A council resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the U.S., Russia, China, Britain or France to be adopted.

The U.S. push for U.N. action comes after President Donald Trump launched a bid to broker an end to the war, sparking a rift with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and raising concerns among European allies that they could be cut out of peace talks. U.S. and Russian officials met on Tuesday.

The General Assembly is set to vote on several proposed amendments to the U.S. draft resolution.

Russia has proposed amending the U.S. draft to reference addressing the “root causes” of the war. Russia called its 2022 invasion a “special military operation” designed to “denazify” Ukraine and halt an expansion of NATO.

Britain and 24 European Union states have also proposed amendments to the U.S. draft in the General Assembly.

They want to describe the conflict as “the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation,” back Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and implore “just, lasting and comprehensive peace” in line with the U.N. Charter and principles of sovereign equality and territorial integrity.

General Assembly resolutions are not binding but carry political weight, reflecting a global view on the war. No country holds a veto in the assembly.
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Estonia pushing for EU to seize Russian assets for Ukraine

Brussels — Estonia has launched a new push to get fellow EU members to agree to seize frozen Russian assets and use them to help Ukraine, dismissing a Russian idea on how the money could be used as part of a peace deal.

The Baltic country has sent a discussion paper on the issue to European Union partners and will raise it at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, officials said.

Some 210 billion euros ($219.62 billion) in Russian assets are immobilized in the EU by sanctions as part of an international crackdown on Moscow for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Last year, the G7 group of nations – including the EU – agreed to use profits from frozen Russian assets to fund a $50 billion loan for Ukraine. But the assets themselves remain untouched.

“The decision to use the windfall profits was a step in the right direction. I see that the time is ripe now to take the next step,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told Reuters.

On Friday, Reuters reported that Moscow could agree to allow Russian assets frozen in Europe to be used for reconstruction in Ukraine but would insist part of the money is spent on the part of the country controlled by its forces.

Tsahkna dismissed that idea.

“Giving Russia some of the assets to use in the occupied areas means accepting Russia’s occupation of some parts of Ukraine,” he said.

The EU has insisted Ukraine’s territorial integrity must be respected in any peace deal.

Several EU countries, including Baltic states and Poland, have said they are ready to consider seizing the assets. But Germany, France, Belgium and the European Central Bank have been wary, warning of legal challenges and undermining the euro as a reserve currency.

Belgium-based clearing house Euroclear holds most of the Russian assets frozen in Europe.

But the issue has resurfaced on the political agenda, particularly as the Trump administration has said it expects Europe to take on a larger share of support for Ukraine.

The Estonian paper, seen by Reuters, tries to address its partners’ concerns. It says asset seizure can be justified under international law, as a countermeasure to Moscow’s war and because “Russia refuses to engage in reparations.”

It also says joint action by the EU and international partners could mitigate any risk to the euro as a reserve currency.
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Kremlin hails Putin-Trump dialogue as promising 

Moscow — The Kremlin on Sunday hailed dialogue between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin — two “extraordinary” presidents — as “promising,” and vowed it would “never” give up territory seized in eastern Ukraine. 

Trump broke with Western policy earlier this month by phoning Putin to discuss how to end the conflict in Ukraine — a call hailed by Moscow as ending three years of isolation for the Kremlin leader since he launched his full-scale offensive in February 2022. 

Top Russian and U.S. officials then met in Saudi Arabia last week to discuss a “restoration” of ties and start a discussion on a possible ceasefire — all without the involvement of Kyiv or Europe. 

“This is a dialogue between two extraordinary presidents,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state TV on Sunday. 

“That’s promising,” he added. 

“It is important that nothing prevents us from realizing the political will of the two heads of state.” 

Trump’s overtures to Moscow have triggered alarm in Kyiv and across Europe. 

But it is unclear whether his moves will be able to bring Moscow and Kyiv closer to a truce. 

Peskov on Sunday ruled out any territorial concessions as part of a settlement. 

“The people decided to join Russia a long time ago,” he said, referring to Moscow-staged votes in eastern Ukraine held amid the offensive that were slammed as bogus by Kyiv, the West and international monitors. 

“No one will ever sell off these territories. That’s the most important thing.” 

 ‘God willed it’ 

 Putin said God and fate had entrusted him and his army with “the mission” to defend Russia. 

“Fate willed it so, God willed it so, if I may say so. A mission as difficult as it is honorable — defending Russia — has been placed on our and your shoulders together,” he told servicemen who have fought in Ukraine. 

Russia was on Sunday marking Defender of the Fatherland Day — a holiday hailing soldiers and veterans — a day before the three-year anniversary of the start of its full-scale offensive. 

“Today, at the risk of their lives and with courage, they are resolutely defending their homeland, national interests and Russia’s future,” Putin said in a video released by the Kremlin. 

Moscow’s army had overnight launched a record 267 attack drones at Ukraine, Kyiv’s air force said. 

Among them, 138 were intercepted by air defense and 119 were “lost.” 

Ukraine did not say what happened to the remaining 10 but a separate armed forces statement on Telegram said several regions, Kyiv included, had been “hit.” 

AFP journalists in the Ukrainian capital heard air defense systems in operation throughout the night.  

‘Inappropriate remarks’ 

Amid his outreach to Moscow, Trump has also verbally attacked Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy falsely claiming Kyiv started the war and that Zelenskyy was hugely unpopular at home. 

The bitter war of words has threatened to undermine Western support for Kyiv at a critical juncture in the conflict. 

Zelenskyy on Sunday called for the Western coalition that has been helping Kyiv fend off the Russian offensive for the last three years to hold strong. 

“We must do our best to achieve a lasting and just peace for Ukraine. This is possible with the unity of all partners: we need the strength of the whole of Europe, the strength of America, the strength of all those who want lasting peace,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram. 

Moscow has reveled in the spat between Trump and Zelenskyy. 

“Zelenskyy makes inappropriate remarks addressed to the head of state. He does it repeatedly,” Peskov said Sunday. 

“No president would tolerate that kind of treatment. So his [Trump’s] reaction is completely quite understandable.” 

Scrambling to respond to Trump’s dramatic policy reversal, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will travel to Washington next week to make the case for supporting Ukraine.
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Vatican: Ailing Pope Francis ‘rested during a peaceful night’

ROME — Pope Francis, in critical condition with a complicated lung infection, rested well during a peaceful night following a respiratory crisis and blood transfusions, the Vatican said Sunday.

Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni’s one-line statement didn’t mention if Francis was up or eating breakfast. “The night passed quietly, the pope rested.”

The brief update came after doctors said the 88-year-old pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, was in critical condition. On Saturday morning, he suffered a prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis while being treated for pneumonia and a complex lung infection.

The pope received “high flows” of oxygen to help him breathe. He also received blood transfusions after tests showed low counts of platelets, which are needed for clotting, the Vatican said in a late update.

The Saturday statement also said that the pontiff “continues to be alert and spent the day in an armchair although in more pain than yesterday.” Doctors said the prognosis was “reserved.”

Doctors have said Francis’ condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease.

Main threat facing pope is sepsis

They have warned that the main threat facing Francis would be the onset of sepsis, a serious infection of the blood that can occur as a complication of pneumonia. As of Friday, there was no evidence of any sepsis, and Francis was responding to the various drugs he is taking, the pope’s medical team said in their first in-depth update on the pope’s condition.

Saturday’s blood tests showed that he had developed a low platelet count, a condition called platelopenia or thrombocytopenia. Platelets are cell-like fragments that circulate in the blood that help form blood clots to stop bleeding or help wounds heal. Low platelet counts can be caused by a number of things, including side effects from medicines or infections, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Francis, who has chronic lung disease and is prone to bronchitis in winter, was admitted to Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened.

Doctors first diagnosed the complex viral, bacterial and fungal respiratory tract infection and then the onset of pneumonia in both lungs. They prescribed “absolute rest” and a combination of cortisone and antibiotics, along with supplemental oxygen when he needs it.

Speculation that Francis might resign

Meanwhile, the Vatican hierarchy went on the defensive to tamp down rumors and speculation that Francis might decide to resign. There is no provision in canon law for what to do if a pope becomes incapacitated. Francis has said that he has written a letter of resignation that would be invoked if he were medically incapable of making such a decision. The pope remains fully conscious, alert, eating and working.

The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, gave a rare interview to Corriere della Sera to respond to speculation and rumors about a possible resignation. It came after the Vatican issued an unusual and official denial of an Italian media report that said Parolin and the pope’s chief canonist had visited Francis in the hospital in secret. Given the canonical requirements to make a resignation legitimate, the implications of such a meeting were significant, but the Vatican flat-out denied that any such meeting occurred.

Parolin said such speculation seemed “useless” when what really mattered was the health of Francis, his recovery and return to the Vatican.

“On the other hand, I think it is quite normal that in these situations uncontrolled rumors can spread or some misplaced comment is uttered. It is certainly not the first time it has happened,” Parolin was quoted as saying. “However, I don’t think there is any particular movement, and so far I haven’t heard anything like that.”

Holy Year celebrations continue

Deacons, meanwhile, were gathering at the Vatican for their special Holy Year weekend. Francis got sick at the start of the Vatican’s Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century celebration of Catholicism. This weekend, Francis was supposed to have celebrated deacons, a ministry in the church that precedes ordination to the priesthood.

In his place, the Holy Year organizer was to celebrate Sunday’s Mass, the Vatican said. And for the second consecutive weekend, Francis is skipping his traditional Sunday noon blessing, which he could have delivered from Gemelli if he were up to it.

“Look, even though he’s not [physically] here, we know he’s here,” said Luis Arnaldo Lopez Quirindongo, a deacon from Ponce, Puerto Rico, who was at the Vatican on Saturday for the Jubilee celebration. “He’s recovering, but he’s in our hearts and is accompanying us, because our prayers and his go together.” 
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Macron, Starmer to meet Trump, offer ideas for Ukraine security guarantees

LONDON/PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will travel to Washington next week amid alarm in Europe over U.S. President Donald Trump’s hardening stance toward Ukraine and overtures to Moscow on the three-year conflict.

The leaders of Europe’s two nuclear powers, who will be traveling separately, are expected to try to persuade Trump not to rush into a ceasefire deal with Vladimir Putin at any cost, keep Europe involved and discuss military guarantees to Ukraine.

Macron, who is trying to capitalize on a relationship with Trump built during their first presidential terms, has said agreeing to a bad deal that would amount to a capitulation of Ukraine would signal weakness to the United States’ foes, including China and Iran.

“I will tell him: deep down you cannot be weak in the face of President (Putin). It’s not you, it’s not what you’re made of and it’s not in your interests,” he said in an hourlong question and answer session on social media ahead of Monday’s visit to the White House.

The visits come amid a rift between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom Trump described as a “dictator.” That has alarmed Kyiv’s European allies, already reeling from a more aggressive U.S. posture on trade, diplomacy and even domestic European politics.

Philip Golub, a professor in international relations at the American University in Paris, said Trump’s rapid-fire moves in his first weeks in office, as well as the rhetoric from other U.S. officials, had been a major shock for the Europeans.

“They could not have expected that somehow within the United States would emerge this ultra-nationalist coalition of forces that would actually challenge Europe’s voice in world affairs in such a stark and strong way,” he told Reuters.

He said Macron believed he had a “historic role to play” in going to Washington to ensure Europe can weigh in on the ultimate negotiations on Ukraine. “Whether he can actually achieve something, however, in this visit is an entirely different matter,” he added.

Starmer, who has also warned the end of the war cannot be a “temporary pause before Putin attacks again,” will be in Washington on Thursday.

Speaking on a Fox News podcast on Friday, Trump said Macron and Starmer had not “done anything” to end the war. “No meetings with Russia!” he said, although he described Macron as “a friend of mine” and Starmer as “a very nice guy.”

However, the two countries are keen to show Trump they are ready to take on a bigger burden for European security.

Britain and France are firming up ideas with allies for military guarantees for Ukraine and their two leaders will seek to persuade Trump to provide U.S. assurances in any post ceasefire deal, Western officials said.

Their respective militaries began initial planning last summer for the post-war scenario, but the discussions accelerated in November after Trump secured the U.S. presidency, a French military official and two diplomats said.

They have also been supported in putting together an array of options by countries like Denmark and the Baltic states as Europeans discuss what they would be ready to do should there be an accord and peacekeepers required, officials said.

While both Britain and France have ruled out sending troops to Ukraine immediately, the plans, still in concept stage, center around providing air, maritime, land and cyber support that would aim to deter Russia from launching any future attacks, Western officials said.

Air and sea assets could be based in Poland or Romania, restoring safe international air space and ensuring the Black Sea remained safe for international shipping, the official said.

Part of the British and French talks center around the possibility of sending European peacekeepers. While U.S. boots on the ground may not be necessary, deterrence in the form of U.S. medium-range missiles and ultimately nuclear weapons will remain crucial.

The options being discussed would center not on providing troops for the frontline or the 2,000-kilometer border which would remain secured by Ukrainian forces, but further to the West, three European diplomats and the military official said.

Those troops could be tasked with protecting key Ukrainian infrastructure such as ports or nuclear facilities to reassure the Ukrainian population. However, Russia has made it clear it would oppose a European presence in Ukraine.

A French military official said there was little sense in talking numbers at this stage because it would depend on what was finally agreed, what international mandate was given and whether non-European troops would also be involved.

“It’s not about the numbers of troops in Ukraine. It’s the ability to mobilize and the ability to arrange everything into a package of interoperability units,” the French official said.

A Western official said that even 30,000 troops could be on the “high side.” 
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1 dead, several police officers wounded in knife attack in France

STRASBOURG, FRANCE — One person died and two police officers were seriously injured in a knife attack in eastern France on Saturday that occurred during a demonstration, the local prosecutor said.

Three more officers were lightly wounded in the attack in the city of Mulhouse, carried out by a 37-year-old suspect who is on a terror prevention watchlist, prosecutor Nicolas Heitz told AFP.

The list, called FSPRT, compiles data from various authorities on people with the aim of preventing “terrorist” radicalization. It was launched in 2015 following deadly attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s offices and on a Jewish supermarket.

The suspect attacked local police officers in Mulhouse shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”) Saturday afternoon, France’s national antiterror prosecutors’ unit PNAT said in a statement.

A passerby was killed trying to intervene and help police, the prosecutor’s office said.

One of the seriously wounded police officers sustained an injury to the carotid artery, and the other to the thorax, Heitz said.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was expected to travel to the scene of the attack later Saturday.

Police established a security parameter after the attack, which happened shortly before 4 p.m. local time during a demonstration in support of Congo.

According to union sources, the suspect, born in Algeria, has been under judicial supervision and house arrest, and under an expulsion order from France.

“Horror has seized our city,” Mulhouse Mayor Michele Lutz said on Facebook. The incident was being investigated as a terror attack, she said, but “this must obviously still be confirmed by the judiciary.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday that the deadly knife attack was “Islamist terrorism,” after France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office confirmed it was investigating the case.

“It is without any doubt an act of Islamist terrorism,” Macron told reporters on the sidelines of the annual French farm show, adding that the interior minister was on his way to Mulhouse.

The suspect has been arrested, the prosecutor’s office said.

Some information in this report is from Reuters.
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