Eric Ciaramella and Sophia Besch
In January, amid Russia’s continued assault on Ukraine and U.S. President Donald Trump’s haste to reach a peace settlement, the leaders of more than two dozen European countries and Canada gathered in Paris to discuss security guarantees for Kyiv. Although European leaders hailed this “coalition of the willing” summit as a breakthrough, its publicly known outcome was a frustratingly familiar, if slightly more detailed, repetition of previous commitments.
The coalition’s signature idea is a multinational European-led force that will deploy to Ukraine if a cease-fire is reached. Planning for this force, which will include land, sea, and air components, is already underway among European militaries and defense ministries, with a headquarters set up near Paris. The force’s mission is twofold: to “support the rebuilding of Ukraine’s armed forces and support deterrence.” Ukraine’s European partners are also discussing a set of binding commitments modeled after NATO’s Article 5 guarantees to come to the country’s defense if it were attacked again after a cease-fire.
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