Europe ready to send troops to Ukraine. Italy pulls out. Ft: US stops funding EU countries on Russia's border

The meeting by video link from Paris with US President Donald Trump then began. The Elysée announced that there were two topics on the agenda: the request for further US sanctions against Russia and the contribution of each to future security guarantees for Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump told European leaders gathered as the 'Coalition of the Willing' today that Europe must stop buying Russian oil because it is helping Moscow finance its war against Ukraine. This was stated by a White House official.

According to Trump, Russia receivedEUR 1.1 billion in fuel from the EU in one year. The president also stressed that European leaders must put economic pressure on China to 'stop funding Russia's war efforts'. In addition, Trump shuts off Europe's defence spigots: the US will phase out security assistance programmes for the armies of European countries bordering Russia, pushing the continent to finance more of its own defence.

The US will phase out security assistance programmes for European armies along its border with Russia, pushing the continent to fund its own defence more. TheFinancial Times writes that this is a budget of more than USD 1 billion. Last week Pentagon officials informed European diplomats that the US would no longer fund training and equipment programmes for armed forces in Eastern European countries that would be on the front line of a possible conflict with Russia, according to sources close to the dossier.

Spending on this Pentagon programme, which falls under an authority known as 'Section 333', must be approved by the US Congress, but the Trump administration has not requested additional funds.

Those already approved will be available until the end of September 2026. A White House official said the move is in line with President Donald Trump's efforts to "review and realign" foreign aid with America First and corresponds to an executive order he issued on his first day in office.

"This action was coordinated with European countries in line with the executive order and the president's long-standing emphasis on ensuring that Europe takes greater responsibility for its own defence," the official said. Under pressure from Trump, Nato allies agreed in June to increase their defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP. The programme allocated $1.6 billion to Europe between 2018 and 2022, according to the US Government Accountability Office.

The main beneficiaries include Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Officials from dozens of European embassies in Washington, including from countries that do not receive assistance, attended a meeting where Pentagon officials briefed on the cuts. The move seemed aimed at encouraging wealthier European countries to fund more security assistance to frontline states, one European official told Ft.

European governments were baffled by the communication and are trying to get more details from Washington, according to two diplomats briefed on the discussions. European officials, according to the newspaper, are also trying to figure out whether domestic funding can fill the gaps or whether the cuts will impact critical elements of European security. "If they are brutal, the implications will be huge," said one of the diplomats, adding that Nato will definitely be affected, as part of the funding will go through the alliance. "It is causing a lot of concern and uncertainty," the second diplomat said, comparing it to Trump's previous decision to cut US international aid.

Returning to today's summit - as reported by the Guardian - Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said that although 'Putin hopes his games will tire the democratic world, our unity and determination have proved otherwise', adding that 'security guarantees must be defined by those who demand and provide them. Russia has no say in the future of Ukraine, nor in the future of Europe and NATO,' he pointed out.

Of the same opinion was anotherBaltic leader, Lithuanian Gitanas Nauseda, who emphasised that 'guarantees must be a real deterrent, not another Budapest Memorandum'.

The President of the European Council Antonio Costa, at the end of today's meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, said that this format 'is not only willing, but also able, to act' in support of Ukraine.

"We had an important meeting of the Coalition of the Willing. We are joining forces to strengthen Ukraine's security guarantees - through air, sea, land and the regeneration of the Ukrainian Forces. The Coalition is not only willing, but also able to act'.

"Italy, Poland and Germany are among the 26 countries" that will participate in the security guarantees, "with a contribution ranging from the regeneration of the Ukrainian army, to the deployment of land, sea and sky troops, or with the provision of bases". This was said by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, at the end of the meeting of the Volunteers in Paris. "Each has its own ways of contributing, some by sending troops on the ground, others by making their NATO bases available, I don't want to give details here, but all three countries are important contributors to these security guarantees," he added.

"Russia will not discuss the idea of foreign military intervention in Ukraine in any form." This was said by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova who added: "Russia will not discuss the idea of foreign intervention in Ukraine, which is completely unacceptable and undermines security, in any form," she said. Moreover, 'the possible sale by the US of more than 3,000 missiles contradicts the aspiration to resolve the conflict diplomatically'.

"It is not Russia" that can decide on the deployment of Western troops in Ukraine, replied NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

"The security guarantees demanded by Ukraine pose a threat to the European continent and are absolutely unacceptable," Maria Zakharova (video) said at a briefing, as reported by Tass. "The Kiev leader's ideas, which are essentially a carbon copy of the initiatives of European sponsors, not even sponsors but the European war party, as we have already said more than once, are absolutely unacceptable. They aim to preserve Ukraine as a springboard for terror, for provocations against our country."

Last night, Wednesday, Emmanuel Macron had proclaimed that 'Europeans are now ready to offer Ukraine the necessary security guarantees, once peace is achieved'. Today the Group of the Willing meets in Paris.

Finally, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman spoke of Ursula von der Leyen: the rumours about an alleged hybrid attack by the Kremlin that caused European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's plane to land using paper maps 'have the taste of desperation'.

Meanwhile Moscow shows that it is not economically isolated despiteWestern sanctions. Russia and China also strengthen ties over oil. The oil giant Rosneft signed an agreement to supply Beijing with an additional 2.5 million tonnes of oil per year via Kazakhstan. This was reported by Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilyov in an interview with Rossiya-24 television during the Eastern Economic Forum, Tass reported. "The agreement was also signed by Rosneft and its Chinese counterparts for the additional supply of 2.5 million tonnes of oil through Kazakhstan," the minister said. Not only oil but also gas: Russia and China have signed documents for the supply of a total of 106 billion cubic metres of gas per year, Energy Minister Tsivilyov said in the same interview, giving an account of the results of the four-day mission President Vladimir Putin had just completed in China. "We have signed agreements for a total volume of supplies of 106 billion cubic metres of gas per year to China. This is a huge alternative to our supplies to Europe, rejected by our European partners,' Tsivilyov added.

From Washington Trump spoke on the Russian-Ukrainian situation. "I have been following the situation, I have seen it and talked about it with President Putin and President Zelensky. Something will happen, but they are not ready yet. But something will happen. We will make it." So said the president in an interview with Cbs, relayed on his Truth account, on the eve of the meeting of the Willing with the Ukrainian leader in Paris.

Moscow contradicts Trump's optimism. "We are sorry to see that Kiev and its European sponsors still lack the will to seek peaceful solutions to the crisis," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said, reported by Tass.

The meeting of the Coalition of the Willing on Ukraine was chaired by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, in the halls of the Elysée Palace, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, remotely. The French presidency provided the list ofleaders in attendance: the Belgian Prime Minister, Bart De Wever, the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, the Finnish President, Alexander Stubb, the Dutch Prime Minister, Dick Schoof, the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, the President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the US President's special envoy, Steve Witkoff.

Connected by videoconference are Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rossen Jeliazkov, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulidis, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden, Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajic and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.

Zelensky's advisor, Andriy Yermak, said on X that he had met with US envoy Witkoff along with UK national security advisor Jonathan Powell, diplomatic advisor to French President Emmanuel Bonne, national security advisor to German Chancellor Gunter Sautter, and diplomatic advisor to Italian Prime Minister Fabrizio Saggio. "Our main task is the practical implementation of the agreements reached by our leaders on security guarantees for Ukraine," said Yermak. "These guarantees must be strong and effective: in the air, at sea, on land and in cyberspace. We also discussed the strengthening of sanctions, the return of Ukrainian prisoners of war and children abducted by Russia'.

A Russian attack in northern Ukraine killed two members of the NGO Danish Refugee Council (DRC) who were clearing an area previously occupied by Moscow forces, the local Ukrainian governor said. "The Russians deliberately targeted workers of the humanitarian demining mission of the Danish Refugee Council, it is known that two people were killed," the governor of the Chernihiv region, Vyacheslav Chaus, wrote on social media.

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) reported that the attack had hit one of its demining sites. "The attack cost the lives of two Ukrainian colleagues and injured eight others," the Drc said in a note. "At the time of the incident, Drc teams were carrying out exclusively civilian humanitarian activities, working to clear mines and explosive remnants of war," the note added. The attack hit the outskirts of the regional capital of Chernihiv, 125 kilometres north of Kiev. "First the Russians littered the area with explosives and mines. Now they are killing people, civilians risking their lives to reclaim our territory,' Chaus added. Russian forces surrounded the city at the beginning of the war, after invading Ukraine from Moscow's ally Belarus, which is 50 kilometres away.