Macron announces maneuvers by "Coalition of the Willing" in Ukraine's neighboring countries

"dass wir bereit, entschlossen und glaubwürdig sind - zu Land, in der Luft und zur See", Macron said as justification for the maneuvers. He simultaneously underscored the fundamental support for Kyiv: "Die Unterstützung der Ukraine ist eine Investition in unsere eigene Sicherheit. Und diejenigen, die glauben, dass dieser Krieg an den ukrainischen Grenzen haltmachen wird, wenn wir nachgeben oder Mittel suchen, um dem Aggressor entgegenzukommen, irren sich." Macron also announced the delivery of additional weapons systems to Ukraine.

Merz remains noncommittal on contribution

Chancellor Merz did not directly address the multinational force or the maneuvers in his statement. He declared, however, that the "Coalition of the Willing" was ready to play an "important role" in security guarantees for Ukraine after a ceasefire, in close cooperation with the United States. The form and scope of a German contribution would be decided by the federal government and the Bundestag, Merz made clear.

Macron provided no concrete details regarding the participation of individual states in the exercises, nor on exact dates and locations. He pointed out that there had so far been neither a final agreement nor a public announcement on the composition of the planned multinational force. Thus, the question of which countries will send soldiers for a possible deployment in Ukraine after the end of the war remains open.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the agreement; "dies werde dazu beitragen, dass Kiew die nötige Unterstützung erhalte". London had previously already pledged participation in a recently agreed 90 billion euro loan for Ukraine. According to information available to date, more than 35 states have joined the "Coalition of the Willing".

New missile defense coalition

On the sidelines of the Paris meeting, Germany, France, and seven other states also agreed on the establishment of a new, purely defensive missile defense coalition. In addition to Germany and France, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Great Britain are participating, according to information from Paris. "Mit der Gründung der Raketenabwehr-Koalition stärken wir die Fähigkeiten, die Europa benötigt", Macron said about this. The aim of the cooperation is above all the industrial supplementation of existing systems.

Ukrainian President Zelensky lobbied in Paris for the establishment of an independent European air defense system within a year. According to his figures, Ukraine arithmetically needs 100 Patriot missiles per month, 300 in winter, to be able to repel Russian attacks. At the same time, Ukraine is, according to its own statements, working on its own air defense system called Freyja as a more cost-effective alternative to the US Patriot system.

Background: Stalemate in ending the war

The Ukrainian president also underscored the military significance of Western aid for the coming months: the more protective means Ukraine has, the fewer incentives there are for Russia to drag the war into winter. According to information from Kyiv, the Ukrainian port city of Odessa was recently the target of renewed Russian attacks; in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian territory, "sind laut Behördenangaben mindestens drei Menschen getötet worden".

The background to the Paris consultations is the situation, stuck for months, in efforts to bring an end to the Russian war of aggression. "Die Bemühungen um ein Ende des Krieges sind seit Monaten festgefahren", European delegations stated. The Paris declaration envisages that the force could already be deployed within Ukraine itself after the end of hostilities, in order to support the Ukrainian armed forces in securing airspace and maritime areas.

Already at the Ukraine summit in Berlin in December, several European states had agreed in principle on the formation of a European-led, US-supported "multinational force for Ukraine". At that time, joint maneuvers before a ceasefire were not yet on the agenda; this has now been taken up for the first time in Paris.

With the declaration signed in Paris, the signatory states have also for the first time made a legally binding commitment not to leave Ukraine alone in the event of a renewed Russian attack. Whether the maneuvers will actually lead to a permanent deployment of soldiers in Ukraine depends, in Macron's words, also on how the political situation develops in the coming weeks and months. The federal government remains noncommittal on the question of a concrete German contribution.