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Ukraine, Macron and Starmer co-chair summit at the Élysée Palace with Zelensky

Summit of the Coalition of the Willing on 4 September. Meloni expected to join via video link, while the NATO-Ukraine Council meets in Brussels

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will co-chair a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing at the Élysée Palace on Thursday 4 September, with the participation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The French presidency announced the meeting, explaining that the leaders will discuss security guarantees for Kyiv and the consequences of Moscow’s refusal to negotiate peace. According to diplomatic sources, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will participate remotely.

Diplomacy in motion

The summit follows the one between Europeans and Americans held in Washington on 19 August. In parallel, an extraordinary meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council is taking place today in Brussels, convened at Kiev’s request after the recent massive Russian air raids. ” We expect a focused discussion on joint measures to respond adequately to Russia’s rejection of peace efforts,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X, thanking allies for their support.

Putin’s words

From Tianjin, China, where he is attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, Vladimir Putin reiterated his version of the origins of the conflict: ‘This crisis did not arise from Russia’s attack, but from the coup in Kiev in 2014, supported by the West.’ The Russian president accused the Atlantic Alliance of attempting to drag Kiev into NATO and argued that a lasting solution can only be achieved by eliminating the ‘root causes’ of the conflict.

Drone attacks on the decline

Meanwhile, an AFP analysis based on Ukrainian Air Force data shows a decline in Russian long-range drone attacks: in August, Moscow launched 4,132, a 34% decrease compared to July, which was a record month since the start of the war.

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