French President Emmanuel Macron is set to kick off a meeting with the leaders of the so-called coalition of the willing to fine-tune security guarantees for Ukraine once hostilities end there. Macron said preparations for security guarantees were completed at a meeting of defense ministers of the group, saying details were "extremely confidential." This European-led initiative to defend Ukraine against Russian attacks following a peace deal between the neighboring countries or in a post-war Ukraine has gained momentum in recent months.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last night he was making progress in talks with European and US partners on designing potential security guarantees for Ukraine should the war be brought to a close. In his nightly address, he said: It is important that everything be as practical as possible what forces on the ground, in the air, at sea everything must be clearly defined. And the foundation of our security is our strong Ukrainian army, which means long-term financing and the provision of weapons all of this will be ensured.
Russia fired hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Kyiv and Lviv overnight. The scale of the assault prompted Poland to protect its airspace, with a mission lasting several hours. No Russian violation of Polish airspace was reported. The Polish border is some 90 kilometers from Lviv. Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance has said that European countries will need to provide the "lion's share" of any security guarantees for a post-war Ukraine.
