DAILY STAR
Fears of World War Three have risen again after French President Emmanuel Macron said a proposed European peacekeeping force for Ukraine could “respond” if Ukraine is attacked by Mad Vlad and his Kremlin cronies after a peace deal.
The French leader was speaking after talks with Ukraininan President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris. A total of 31 nations including the UK are set to meet at the at the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris on Thursday.
European nations in and outside of the EU are reviewing defence guarantees after the Trump adminsitration in the US has said America’s security priorities now lie in Asia and on its own borders. The US will not be represented at the Elysee talks.
“If there was again a generalised aggression against Ukrainian soil, these armies would be under attack and then it’s our usual framework of engagement,” Macron said. “Our soldiers, when they are engaged and deployed, are there to react and respond to the decisions of the commander in chief and, if they are in a conflict situation, to respond to it.”
It comes after Macron and UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer have both called for a ‘coalition of the willing’ to lead the response to Russia’s war on Ukraine and a defend any possible peace deal. It is not clear what kind of aid would be provided by the coaliton.
But Macron said the proposed European forces would not be stationed on the front lines in Ukraine, or be “engaged on the first day opposite Russian forces”.