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A Ukrainian delegation arrived in Paris on Thursday, a development not previously announced, ahead of what Washington had described as planned talks between top U.S. officials and French counterparts toward brokering an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Talks occur hours after 3 people, 10 injured in overnight Russian attacks in UkraineThomson Reuters
· Posted: Apr 17, 2025 8:54 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago
France’s President Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as U.S. diplomat Steve Witkoff looks on, before a meeting at the presidential palace in Paris on Thursday. (Ludovic Marin/Reuters)European and Ukrainian officials kicked off a day of talks in Paris on Thursday to plead Kyiv’s case to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, who are in France.
The high-level diplomacy reflects Europe’s mounting concern over the U.S. administration’s overtures toward Moscow, after the failure so far of Trump’s efforts to arrange a ceasefire in the three-year-old Russia-Ukraine war.
The arrival of a Ukrainian delegation in Paris was not previously announced ahead of what Washington had described as planned talks between Rubio, Witkoff and French officials.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s foreign policy adviser Emmanuel Bonne hugged Witkoff as he arrived at the French presidency’s Elysee Palace for talks, before a lunch between Macron, Witkoff and Rubio.
Before that, Bonne and his British and German counterparts met Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. According to the French agenda for the day, Yermak was due to take part in a meeting with Rubio, Witkoff and the European envoys later on Thursday.
In this photo, provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters extinguish a blaze following a Russian attack in Dnipro early Thursday. (Ukrainian Emergency Service/The Associated Press)Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov are also in Paris.
“The parties will discuss ways to achieve a complete ceasefire, the involvement of a multinational military contingent to guarantee sustainable peace, further development of Ukraine’s security architecture and ensuring the security of our country,” Sybiha said in a statement.
Trump spreads blame for warTrump, who has long said he aims to swiftly end the Ukraine war, has indicated he is frustrated with both Moscow and Kyiv, even as his administration has shifted U.S. rhetoric toward accommodating the Russian account of the conflict and berated Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.
Ukraine agreed to a Trump proposal last month for a ceasefire, which Russia rejected. The sides have agreed only to curbs on attacks against energy targets and at sea, which both accuse each other of violating.
WATCH l Ukraine on the weekend suffered deadliest attack in months:
Ukraine says more than 30 killed in Russian missile strike on Sumy
Russian missiles struck the heart of the Ukrainian city of Sumy as people gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday, killing at least 34 people, officials said. U.S. President Donald Trump called the attack ‘terrible,’ and said he was told ‘they made a mistake.’
Kyiv and its European allies say Moscow is to blame for rejecting Trump’s proposal of a ceasefire last month, and are hoping to persuade Washington to take a tougher line.
They have pressed the case since a Russian attack that killed civilians, including Ukrainian Christian worshippers, in the city of Sumy on Sunday.
When asked hours later about that attack, Trump told reporters, “I was told they [Russia] made a mistake.”
A day later at the White House, Trump backtracked when asked to elaborate on that claim, saying the mistake was that the war was allowed to begin in the first place. The president said he blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin most of all, while also apportioning blame to his predecessor, Joe Biden, as well as Zelenskyy.
“You don’t start a war against someone 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles,” he said of Ukraine.
Russia mobilized its forces toward Ukraine’s sea ports on Feb. 24, 2022, and Putin authorized airstrikes across the country, calling it a “special military operation.”
Deadly attacks overnightThe Kremlin described the Paris meetings as a chance for Witkoff, who met Putin for five hours last week, to inform Europeans of the status of talks about the search for a peace settlement in Ukraine.
Russia’s Defence Ministry, meanwhile, accused Ukraine of having carried out 10 attacks on Russian energy infrastructure and violating the moratorium on such strikes.
Within southern Ukraine, Russian attacks killed at least three people and injured 10 more on Thursday, local authorities said.
Two men, aged 56 and 61, were killed, and five more were wounded in artillery shelling on Nikopol, the regional governor said on the Telegram messenger.
One person was killed during a Russian airstrike on Kherson, which also injured a teenager and four adults, that city’s mayor said.
With files from CBC News
