About 30 Western leaders met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday to discuss potential security guarantees for Kyiv under a future peace deal with Russia, seeking to win U.S. support for their plan.
The summit, both in person and by video-link, of the "coalition of the willing" brought together leaders, including Europe's biggest countries, but also the likes of Australia, Canada and Japan.
Members of the coalition, which does not include the U.S., have talked for months at various levels to define their prospective military support for Ukraine to help deter Russia from attacking it again if and when there is a final truce – still a remote prospect.
But those efforts have stalled as governments have said any European military role would need its own U.S. security guarantees as a "backstop." President Donald Trump has made no explicit commitment to provide those.
His special envoy Steve Witkoff met French, British, German, Italian and Ukrainian senior diplomats ahead of the summit, before briefly attending the opening session.
