European leaders on Friday warned that the Ukrainian army should not be defanged and that they should be consulted on talks to end the war in Ukraine, as they scrambled to respond to a U.S.-Russian peace plan that has largely excluded them and Kyiv.
The plan, which was drafted without Ukrainian or European involvement, would require Kyiv to surrender significant slices of territory, reduce the size of its army and relinquish some types of weaponry, according to officials familiar with the proposal.
Stefan Kornelius, a spokesman for Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, said in a statement that Mr. Merz and the leaders of France and the United Kingdom had assured President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine during a call on Friday of “their continued and full support on the path to a lasting and just peace.”
The statement did not explicitly mention the U.S.-Russian plan, which reflects the maximalist demands the Kremlin has made throughout the war, which Ukraine has long rejected.
The leaders welcomed the U.S. efforts to end the war but insisted on the need to protect “vital European and Ukrainian interests in the long term.”
That includes the fact that “the Ukrainian armed forces must remain capable of effectively defending Ukraine’s sovereignty,” and that “any agreement affecting European states, the European Union, or NATO requires the consent of European partners or a consensus among allies,” the statement said.
Aurelien Breeden is a reporter for The Times in Paris, covering news from France.
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