The U.S.-brokered peace talks highlighted growing divisions between Washington and Brussels.

On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron will meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky to prepare for the support summit for Ukraine, which will take place on Thursday in Paris.

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They will meet starting at 6:30 p.m. and will make a statement to the press before holding a bilateral meeting and a working dinner, the Elysee announced, adding that Macron will stress to his guest that “the continuation and strengthening of military and financial support for Ukraine is an absolute priority.”

Additionally, the meeting will allow the two presidents to “prepare for the meeting” of leaders of the so-called “coalition of volunteers,” convened by Macron for Thursday.

At that summit, whose list of participants has not yet been disclosed, discussions will focus on finalizing short-term support for the Ukrainian military, defining a long-term defense model for the country, and specifying the “security guarantees that European armies can provide,” Macron explained last week in Brussels when announcing the meeting.

The recent U.S.-brokered Russia-Ukraine peace talks, however, highlighted growing divisions between Washington and Brussels, bringing transatlantic relations to a historic low, an Italian geopolitical analyst has said.

Sergio Fabbrini, a political science professor at Rome’s LUISS University, said that the exclusion of Europe from the talks underscores the EU’s declining influence in resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict, due in large part to the bloc’s lack of unified foreign policy coordination.

“This episode reveals the European Union’s structural weakness,” he said during a university conference on Monday. “Without a central authority to speak for all members, the bloc struggles to assert itself on the global stage, particularly when the U.S. chooses to act unilaterally.”

This institutional fragmentation, he said, coincides with the skeptical view of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration regarding the EU. The U.S. president has repeatedly characterized the EU as “an institution designed to undermine American interests rather than bolster global security.”

Fabbrini emphasized the fundamental divergence in how both sides perceive the Ukraine crisis. “For Europe, this is an existential security threat happening on our doorstep. For Washington, it’s a geopolitical calculation involving great powers,” he said, warning that the current tensions mark “one of the worst crises in transatlantic history,” urging Europe to develop a more independent diplomatic capacity.

“Geographical reality demands that Europe take greater responsibility for its own security architecture while maintaining equilibrium between national interests and collective European stability,” he said.

teleSUR/ JF

Sources: EFE – Xinhua

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