‘Coalition of the willing ‘leaders are meeting in Paris to discuss supporting Ukraine but Moscow continues its bid to undermine these attempts, accusing France and Britain of provoking “direct military confrontation” between NATO and the Russian Federation.
Governments of over 30 nations and entities are represented at the ‘Coalition of the Willing’, so called, talks in Paris on Thursday, called to discuss sustaining military and economic support for Ukraine. Also on the table is the suggestion of security guarantees for Ukraine and even, as frequently discussed by the United Kingdom and France, the possibility of European peacekeepers in Ukraine to monitor any agreement achieved by the Trump talks.
The purpose of this is to “deter, in order to send that message to Putin that this is a deal that is going to be defended”, Britain’s Starmer said today.
Russia, meanwhile, which clearly would not benefit from a ceasefire being guaranteed by NATO troops on Ukrainian soil and, consequently, a nuclear tripwire for any future bids to expand territorial holdings in the country has long agitated against such notions. That process continued this morning, with the spokesman for the Russian Foreign Minister Maria Zakharova warning of bloody violence if Europe tries, and accusing the United Kingdom of trying to inveigle Europe into an “Anglo-Saxon” plot to fight Russia against their own interests.
Zakharova said: “We understand why they are doing this. They need to provoke Europe into a bloodbath [with Russia]… They themselves, London, let me remind you, left the European Union at one time. And now the golden dream, after they have disrupted the economy of the European Union, is to push together the European continent as a whole. And they will join the Anglo-Saxon coalition.”
That there is an “Anglo-Saxon” conspiracy to destroy Russia is a frequent Kremlin trope.
In other comments, the Foreign Affairs representative also said: “I’d like to note again that Russia resolutely opposes a scenario fraught with a direct military confrontation between Russia and NATO”.
Further bids to undermine European confidence in the safety of supporting Ukraine came from Russian Member of Parliament Sergey Mironov, whose comments were amplified by Kremlin media on Thursday, who enunciated a hypothetical situation where the weapons now being handed to Kyiv may one day find their way back to Europe in the hands of terrorists. He said: “The West has been flooding Ukraine with weapons, and EU countries are willing to do so even to the detriment of their own security”.
One of Russia’s publicly professed excuses for fighting Ukraine in the first place is the allegation it is a state run by crypto-Nazis who worship Second World War-era ultranationalist Stepan Bandera. Mironov cited this alleged state of affairs as a rusk to Europe, as he continued: “A combination of terrorism and the neo-Nazi Bandera regime may create an infernal mix that will ‘blow up’ Europe from within”.
Meanwhile, all sides continue to accuse each other of bad faith, of undermining peace talks, and of being crypto-warmongers. Britain’s Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, for instance, has accused Russia of “playing games” and “filibustering” to delay any progress on talks. He said: “It is a classic from the Putin playbook, but we can’t let them drag this out while they continue prosecuting their illegal invasion”.
Also speaking today was France’s President Emmanuel Macron, who criticised Russian “stories and untruths”. Ukraine for their part said Russia “distorts reality” and has been undermining the peace process by trying to “rewrite the outcomes of negotiations”.
Ukraine’s President Zelensky said this week: “The Kremlin is lying again, claiming that the Black Sea ceasefire supposedly depends on sanctions and that the energy ceasefire supposedly began on 18 March. Moscow always lies”.
President Trump himself has also entertained this notion, drawing on his lifetime of experience in dealmaking, saying he knows the tactic, while remaining optimistic that Russia really is willing to stop fighting. He said earlier this week: “it could be they’re dragging their feet. I’ve done it over the years. I don’t want to sign a contract. I want to sort of stay in the game, but maybe I don’t want to do it, quite, I’m not sure. But, no, I think Russia would like to see it end, and I think Zelensky would like to see it end at this point.”
Russia, of course, also makes near-identical allegations in return. A Kremlin representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky, for instance, accused Kyiv of undermining talks by continuing to strike Russian targets in the meanwhile — Russia also does the same — accusing them of trying to “deceive” the United States. Russian Senator Alexander Voloshin also made such claims, stating “All these attacks speak eloquently about the sincerity of the Kiev regime’s peaceful intentions, [demonstrating] the ever-present cynicism and nihilism towards any legal framework or agreements.”
Both Russia and Ukraine claim the United States is on the verge of realising the truth about the intentions and deceit of the respective other.
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