"The war in Ukraine: ignored by Trump and Putin, at the end of the mini-meeting at the Elysee Palace, Europeans were divided on the issue of sending troops", writes the French newspaper "Monde".
French President Emmanuel Macron brought together eight European leaders and the heads of NATO and the EU last night, less than a week after Washington and Moscow agreed to start "immediate" talks to end the conflict.
But will the meeting be an example of ineffective efforts? The US and Russian foreign ministers, Marco Rubio and Sergei Lavrov, are due to meet in Riyadh today to begin the "normalisation" of their relations. European leaders at the Elysee Palace, however, failed to demonstrate unity but still hope to play a role in the upcoming talks to end the war in Ukraine, despite signals to the contrary from Washington and Moscow, the French publication highlights, noting that Macron refrained from summarising the results of the meeting he hosted.
The possibility of a potential deal between Trump and Putin has shocked Europe, the British magazine "The Economist" emphasizes. The leaders entered the Elysee Palace for the emergency meeting in a somber mood. They had not yet recovered from the message delivered over the weekend by members of Donald Trump's administration - that Europeans have no place in the peace talks on Ukraine, which will be held between the US and Russia, and that "harsh strategic realities do not allow the US to focus primarily on the security of Europe", as Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett put it.
Shortly before the urgently convened meeting, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called it a "generational challenge" for the continent.
However, there were disagreements at the meeting over sending troops to Ukraine, the British magazine notes.
The British newspaper "The Guardian" in turn quoted Starmer as saying that possible American support would be vital to deterring future Russian attacks on Ukraine. He said any peacekeeping force would need air cover, which only the United States could provide.
But deploying a European peacekeeping force was the only way to prevent a possible new attack by Russia, the British leader stressed. After a meeting in which European leaders called for a significant increase in defense spending, he called on Trump to provide American support for a European peacekeeping force.
Some leaders at the meeting - notably German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is up for election this week - wanted to block any discussion of the possibility of European forces helping to enforce a ceasefire in Ukraine, the British newspaper noted. But Starmer, after committing in principle to sending British troops on Sunday, continued to press the issue - and went further, suggesting that deploying such forces would only make sense with US support.
The clearest consensus at the summit was on increasing defence spending, the Guardian newspaper reports, citing statements by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Scholz also said he wanted to focus on how Europe could remove defence spending increases from fiscal debt rules.
Scholz criticised Trump's decision to rush peace talks with Russia, calling it "grossly inappropriate" to start debates on the results of negotiations that have not yet taken place and are being conducted without the participation of Ukraine.
"It is absolutely clear to us: we must continue to support Ukraine - and it must and can count on us", the German Chancellor stressed.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that all European countries must increase their support for Ukraine and their own defense spending. "Unfortunately, Russia now threatens all of Europe", she stressed.
European leaders are increasingly concerned that Trump is rushing to conclude an immediate truce with Russia, without Ukraine and Europe being able to significantly influence its content, notes the "Guardian" newspaper.
"Europe's military weakness means that no one is paying attention to it", the British newspaper "Telegraph" writes in an article by Col. Richard Kemp.
"Europe will provide the guarantees," say European leaders. As long as the US guarantees for them, notes the retired British military officer.
After warning European NATO members to stop taking advantage of free American protection, President Donald Trump has snubbed Europe from direct talks to end the war in Ukraine. Whether they will lead to anything remains to be seen. Russian President Vladimir Putin has told his American counterpart that he is interested in peace, but that doesn’t mean anything, and in recent weeks Russia has been increasing the pace of its military operations on Ukrainian territory.
Although the US special envoy for Ukraine, General Keith Kellogg, has said that Russia will have to make territorial concessions and make commitments against future aggression in Europe, any settlement is likely to end in a frozen conflict roughly along the current front line, with Russia controlling about 20% of sovereign Ukrainian territory, Kemp points out.
Europe’s hesitant response to a potential frozen conflict is no different from its support for Ukraine during the three years of this war – dependent on the US for everything but declarations, enthusiastic talk and whatever money can be saved from bloated social budgets. At the same time, Biden refused to completely replace European participation, dissuaded by nuclear-armed Russia.
And now we have Trump, who is understandably irritated by Europe's inability to take care of its own defense and wants to prioritize dealing with what he sees as the greater threat to US interests in the form of China.
The lack of a real vision for what they stand for has led European leaders, including the British, to wring their hands in the face of the threats they face, but without the means to defend themselves. This has left Ukraine fatally vulnerable, and Russia without brakes to protect the European continent from future aggression, the British military emphasizes.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has already met with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss Gaza and Ukraine, writes in turn. "New York Times".
Rubio's first visit to Riyadh since taking office came amid uncertainty about the future of Gaza and Ukraine and criticism of the United States' unilateral decisions regarding the wars in the two regions, the American publication notes.