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European Leaders Meet in Paris as U.S. Pushes Ahead With Ukraine Plan

The hastily called gathering was part of a flurry of diplomacy expected to center on Ukraine this week as Trump officials prepare to start talks with Russia on their own.

President Emmanuel Macron of France, right, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany at the Élysée Palace in Paris on Monday.Credit...Ludovic Marin/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Feb. 17, 2025Updated 12:40 p.m. ET

The leaders of many of Europe’s biggest countries came to Paris on Monday in an effort to forge a strategy for their own security, as President Trump’s envoys prepared for talks with Russia over ending the war in Ukraine without them.

The meeting in Paris was pulled together hastily after the first visit to Europe last week by Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that left European leaders alarmed by both the tone and message of the new Trump administration and what it might hold for the continent.

Europeans were shocked by the hostility of Mr. Vance’s scathing speech in Munich criticizing Europe’s exclusion of far-right groups from power, and the sudden American plans to begin peace talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia, starting on Tuesday, without the presence of Ukrainian or European leaders.

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The meeting in Paris was pulled together hastily after the first visit to Europe last week by Vice President JD Vance, shown in Munich on Friday, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.Credit...Johannes Simon/Getty Images

The meetings with the new U.S. officials sowed real fear that the United States wants to pull thousands of troops out of Europe on a timetable that would leave Europe vulnerable to an aggressive Russia, and that Mr. Trump will cut a deal with Mr. Putin over the heads of Ukrainians and Europeans.

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