Volodymyr Zelensky was holding a press conference in Kyiv yesterday when he was interrupted by a phone call from none other than his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.
Pausing the conference to answer his phone, the Ukrainian President politely quipped: ‘Sorry Emmanuel… I just have a conversation with some journalists.
‘Can I ring you back in some minutes, 15-20 minutes? Please, thank you, Emmanuel.’
Moments later, Zelensky told journalists: ‘We have close relations between our countries. He helps a lot. I am very grateful to him.
‘I will call him back after our conversation,’ he said, estimating that he speaks with Macron ‘on average once a day.’
The poorly timed phone call came as British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer prepared to launch construction of the UK’s next-generation of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs).
Sir Keir will travel to Barrow today to lay the keel of HMS Dreadnought, one of several new vessels which will take over responsibility for Britain’s continuous at-sea nuclear deterrence in the 2030s.
He will then host a closed-door meeting of European military chiefs to discuss the future defence of Ukraine as the so-called ‘coalition of the willing’ takes shape.
Starmer and Macron have led discussions on how Europe can guarantee Kyiv’s long-term security, drawing up a plan that could see tens of thousands of peacekeepers deployed across Ukraine despite warnings from Vladimir Putin.
Volodymyr Zelensky was holding a press conference in Kyiv yesterday when he was interrupted by a phone call from none other than his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) shakes hands with France’s President Emmanuel Macron (R)
(L-R) Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer and France’s President Emmanuel Macron hold a meeting
Ukrainian soldiers of Khartya brigade receive training on shooting drones down in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine on February 18, 2025
Rescuers of the State Emergency Service work to extinguish a fire in a building after a drone strike in Kharkiv
Speaking on BBC Breakfast this morning, Britain’s Armed Forces minister Luke Pollard said they want the coalition to be a ‘credible force’ that would allow Ukraine to ‘enjoy a lasting peace’ and ‘reconstitute and rearm’.
‘Putin won’t stop if he wins in Ukraine. If he subjugates the entirety of Ukraine – which is his plan and has been for many years – he will simply rearm and look where else he can extend his influence and his domination.
‘That is not in our interest as a country, certainly not in the interest of our European friends,’ he said.
The particulars of the plan are yet to be revealed, but it is thought that Britain, France and other European countries would take responsibility for safeguarding Ukraine on the ground following a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow.
Ukraine’s armed forces would patrol a demilitarised zone spanning the length of the frontline, while troops from an Anglo-French ‘reassurance force’ would be stationed at key infrastructure sites across the country.
NATO air and naval assets would also perform reconnaissance missions over Ukraine and in the Black Sea.
In theory, the Western troop presence would seek to deter future Russian attacks, with their safety upheld by US fighter jets and missiles remaining on standby in Eastern Europe as a ‘backstop’.
The American backstop would be implemented to ensure ‘that ‘whatever forces are deployed will not be challenged by Russia,’ officials with knowledge of the plans have said.
But there are fears that the US under Donald Trump could refuse to provide the air cover, while Russia has affirmed that Western troops deployed in Ukraine would be treated as combatants.
The White House’s apparent reticence to uphold European security has triggered a new age of rearmament across the EU.
Macron has initiated a doubling of the French defence budget over the course of his two terms and recently set an even higher target, saying the country should increase defence spending to 3-3.5% of economic output from the current 2%.
Earlier this week he visited a French air force base near Germany to declare fighter jets equipped with new-generation hypersonic nuclear missiles would be stationed there as part of an overhaul of France’s airborne nuclear deterrent.
Keir Starmer and Defence Secretary John Healey on board a nuclear-armed Vanguard class submarine this week as it returned to Faslane
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to soldiers at the Luxeuil-Saint-Sauveur airbase, in Saint-Sauveur, north-eastern France, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Mirage (L) and Rafale (R) righter jets are seen in the background
France’s President Emmanuel Macron stands with Pierre Gaudilliere, military governor of Nancy, in front of a Dassault Rafale fighter at Luxeuil-Saint-Sauveur Airbase, France March 18, 2025
Friedrich Merz, leader of Germany’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, raises his hand during a vote at a session of the Bundestag (lower house of parliament) on March 18, 2025 in Berlin
France’s Rafale fighter jet is seen carrying France’s current nuclear capable hypersonic cruise missile (centre)
‘We haven’t waited for 2022 or the turning point we’re seeing right now to discover that the world we live in is ever more dangerous, ever more uncertain, and that it implies to innovate, to bulk up and to become more autonomous,’ he said on Tuesday.
‘I will announce in the coming weeks new investments to go further than what was done over the past seven years,’ he said, adding that the government would order additional Rafale warplanes from French aerospace manufacturer Dassault Aviation to replace ageing Mirage fighter jets – some of which were sent to Ukraine.
Macron has also offered to extend the protection of France’s nuclear weapons, the so-called nuclear umbrella, to other European countries.
Meanwhile, the German parliament this week approved a plan set forth by Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz for a massive spending surge in hopes of reviving economic growth and scaling up military spending.
After the global financial crisis of 2008, Germany imposed a so-called ‘debt brake’ that dramatically restricted government borrowing.
But the move, long seen as an important economic backstop, came under criticism in recent months amid fears that it would prevent Germany from adequately increasing its defence spending.
Now, Merz’s conservatives and Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) – who are in talks to form a centrist coalition after last month’s election – want to remove the debt brake and create a €500 billion fund to improve Germany’s infrastructure and supercharge its defence industrial base.
‘We have for at least a decade felt a false sense of security,’ Merz told lawmakers ahead of the vote yesterday.
‘The decision we are taking today on defence readiness… can be nothing less than the first major step towards a new European defence community,’ he said.
The legislation still has to go to the Bundesrat upper house for another vote on Friday, but is expected to pass.
In the wake of the Bundestag voting through the spending plan, Merz declared simply: ‘Germany is back.’
The vote was also met with widespread praise from European allies, including Macron who delivered a joint press conference with outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz after visiting Luxeuil.
‘I want to congratulate you on the Bundestag’s historic vote, which is good news for Germany and good news for Europe, because it will enable it to do more for defence and investment,’ he told reporters.
Scholz, speaking alongside Macron, said that by ‘strengthening the European pillar of NATO, we will strengthen the transatlantic alliance as a whole’.
And European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the Bundestag’s green-lighting of the spending package was ‘excellent news because it sends a very clear message also to Europe that Germany is determined to invest massively in defence’.
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