Top Ukrainian, European and American leaders meet in Paris

Senior officials from key European countries, the United States and Ukraine gathered in Paris on Thursday, days after direct talks between Washington and Moscow aimed at ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine, which Moscow launched in 2022, is the largest in Europe since the end of World War II. This is the first time that face-to-face meetings will take place between senior European and Ukrainian leaders and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff, following his most recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.

Moscow has refused to sign a broad ceasefire agreement proposed by US President Donald Trump. Ukraine has already accepted it.

Russia has said any deal is conditional on Kiev halting mobilization efforts and cutting off supplies of weapons to Ukraine from the West. These demands have been rejected by Ukraine.

However, Witkoff recently told Fox News that he believes a peace deal is "happening."

He said he heard “what Putin’s demands are for a permanent peace here,” adding that it was about “the so-called five territories.” This refers to the parts of Ukraine partially occupied by Russia.

As the talks began, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that while Washington is working for peace, "from the Europeans we see a focus on continuing the war."

Meanwhile, Russia has not stopped its deadly missile attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent days. On April 16, a Russian drone strike on the city of Dnipro killed at least five people. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on participants in the Paris talks to pressure Russia to accept a ceasefire.

"Russia uses it every day and every night to kill. We must put pressure on the killers... to end this war and guarantee lasting peace," Zelensky said in a post on Telegram.

In addition to Witkoff, the talks will also include US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, French President Emmanuel Macron and the Ukrainian president's envoy Andriy Yermak. Britain's National Security Advisor Jonathan Powell and Jens Ploetner, a senior adviser to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, met with Witkoff at the Elysee Palace in advance.

Ahead of the talks in Paris, political analyst Anton Penkovsky told Radio Free Europe's Current Time that he did not expect any major decisions.

"I think we can expect some technical issues, some decisions regarding the 30-day ceasefires that have already been announced and related to the Black Sea and energy infrastructure, which have not been respected. I think we can have news about their extension," he said.

Ahead of Rubio's arrival on Thursday, the US State Department said the aim of the talks was to "advance President Trump's goal of ending the Russia-Ukraine war and stopping the bloodshed."

Yermak wrote, after arriving in Paris: "we are working on issues important for the security of Ukraine and all of Europe."

While Washington has tried to push forward ceasefire talks between Kiev and Moscow, European countries have focused on supporting Ukraine and planning a possible military mission to enforce any ceasefire agreement./ REL