France Two approaches: USA and Europeans talk about war in Ukraine
The USA and several European countries are discussing possible ways out of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine in Paris today.
17.04.2025, 10:25
SDA
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff have been announced from Washington. Their trip follows a meeting between Witkoff and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin last week.
According to media reports, Witkoff is to speak with French head of state Emmanuel Macron, while Foreign Minister Rubio will meet his colleague Jean-Noël Barrot. The talks should "advance President Trump's goal of ending the Russian-Ukrainian war and stopping the bloodshed", according to the US State Department.
Ukrainian negotiators also in Paris
Negotiators from Ukraine also came to the French capital. The head of the Kiev presidential administration, Andrij Jermak, wrote on X that he was accompanied by Foreign Minister Andrij Sybiha and Defense Minister Rustem Umjerow. Several bilateral meetings are planned with representatives of the states in the so-called "coalition of the willing".
Specifically, Jermak named France, Germany and Great Britain. "A meeting is also planned with US representatives who are now arriving in France," wrote Jermak. Important issues for the security of Ukraine and Europe are at stake.
Different diplomatic approaches
This means that two very different approaches to settling the war, which has been going on for more than three years, are clashing in Paris. Trump wants a quick end to the war and a rapprochement between the USA and Russia. Following contacts with Putin, Trump and Witkoff have emphasized that their impression is that Putin wants peace.
They are more inclined to put pressure on Ukraine. They accuse it of waging a war that it cannot win. The Kremlin is making great efforts to expand the dialog with the Americans. In Ukraine, however, it is sticking firmly to its war aims.
Europeans want to make Ukraine strong
France, on the other hand, like the UK and other European countries, is pursuing the approach of making Ukraine as strong as possible before negotiations and supporting it militarily. Paris and London are also the spokespeople for the idea of supporting Ukraine's security with soldiers from European countries in the future.
This could most likely involve a training and equipment mission for the Ukrainian army far from the front. Moscow rejects the possible deployment of European troops - especially from NATO countries - in Ukraine. However, the Europeans have so far been reluctant to do so without US backing for their mission.
Deaths in drone attack on industrial city of Dnipro
During the night, the industrial city of Dnipro in southern Ukraine was the target of a major Russian drone attack. Three people, including a girl, were killed in the attack, regional governor Serhij Lysak announced on Telegram. There were also at least 30 injured, including five minors. Fires had broken out in several places and residential buildings had been damaged.
Numerous explosions could be heard over the city, which had a population of almost one million before the war, as the Suspilne radio station reported. Dnipro is a center of the Ukrainian arms industry.
The Ukrainian air force also located Russian combat drones over the nearby city of Krywyj Rih and over the large city of Kharkiv in the east of the country. Several explosions were reported from Sumy during the night following drone attacks.
Ukraine produces more than 40 percent of its own weapons
According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Ukraine is currently fighting the Russian war of aggression with more than 40 percent of the weapons it produces itself. "Our defense industry already produces more than a thousand types of weapons: from artillery shells to missiles and long-range weapons to our drones," Zelenskyi told representatives of the defense industry in Kiev.
"More than 40 percent of all weapons used on the front line in the defense of our country are produced in Ukraine," he said, according to the presidential office. At the same time, the number of cooperations between foreign partners and the Ukrainian arms industry, which according to him employs around 300,000 people, is growing.
Selensky's statements also show that his country continues to rely heavily on arms supplies from abroad to defend itself against the Russian invasion. This includes tanks and armored vehicles as well as air defense.
