French President Emmanuel Macron has said on social network X that he will visit London on Monday, 8 December, where he will hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The French president also stressed that Russia “has chosen escalation and is not seeking peace” and condemned the massive overnight strikes on Ukraine, which targeted energy and railway infrastructure in particular. He emphasised the need to keep up pressure on Moscow to “make it choose peace”.
Macron said the talks in London would focus on the situation on the frontline and the progress of consultations under the US mediation.
The French president emphasised that Ukraine could count on Paris’ “unwavering support”. he recalled the work of the “coalition of the willing” and the interaction with the US aimed at providing Ukraine with the necessary security guarantees. Macron emphasised that “without such guarantees there can be no lasting and lasting peace, and the events in Ukraine directly affect the security of the whole of Europe.”
Late in the evening of 2 December, U.S. Representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner concluded talks in Moscow with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the parameters of a likely peace agreement in the Russia-Ukraine war. After that conversation, Putin aide Yuri Ushakov revealed that “no compromise option (for a peace settlement) has been found so far, but some American developments look more or less acceptable.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin later confirmed that during a meeting with Witkoff and Kushner on 2 December, Russian representatives disagreed with part of the points in the U.S. plan to end Russia’s war against Ukraine. Putin said that during the meeting they had to “go over every point” of the peace initiative. Earlier, Putin’s aide Yuriy Ushakov said that the points were not discussed in detail, but rather a general concept was discussed.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibyga pointed to the “positive significance for the peace process” of the talks in Moscow. According to him, US representatives invited the Ukrainian delegation “to continue talks in America in the near future”.
On Saturday, 6 December, US ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said during a speech at a forum in Doha that Ukraine and Russia could be “closer now than ever” to a peace agreement during the entire time of the full-scale war.