VolodyMyr Zensky held a press conference in Kiev in Kiev yesterday when he was interrupted by a phone call from none other than his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.
The Ukrainian president paused the conference to answer his phone and joked politely: 'Sorry Emmanuel … I just have a conversation with some journalists.
'Can I go back in a few minutes, 15-20 minutes? Please, thanks, Emmanuel. '
Moments later, Zensky said to journalists: 'We have close relationships between our countries. He helps a lot. I am very grateful to him.
“I will call him back after our conversation,” he said, and estimated that he speaks with Macron once a day on average. “
The poorly timed phone call came when the British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer prepared for the construction of the next generation of the UK of Nuclear Driven Ballistic Rocket Onderzees (SSBNs).
Sir Keir will travel to Barrow today to lay the HMS Dreadnought Kiel, one of the many new ships that will take over the responsibility for the continuous nuclear deterrence of Great Britain in the 1920s.
He will then organize a closed-door meeting of European military leaders to discuss the future defense of Ukraine when the so-called 'coalition of the willing' takes shape.
Starmer and Macron have led discussions about how Europe can guarantee Kyiv's long -term protection and draw up a plan that could see tens of thousands of peace -enforcers in Ukraine, despite warnings from Vladimir Putin.
VolodyMyr Zensky held a press conference in Kiev in Kiev 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 the hands of French President Emmanuel Macron (R)
(LR) Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zensky, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron are holding a meeting
Ukrainian soldiers of KHARTYA Brigade receive training on shooting drones in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine on February 18, 2025
Rescuers of the emergency aid work to extinguish a fire in a building after a drone attack in Kharkiv
Speaking at BBC breakfast this morning, said Minister of the British forces Luke Pollard that they want the coalition to be a 'credible force' that would enable Ukraine to 'enjoy a permanent peace' and 'Reconstitute and Hermen'.
“Putin will not stop if he wins in Ukraine. If he subjects the whole of Ukraine – what his plan is and has been for many years – he will simply rehear and see where 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 details of the plan still have to be revealed, but it is thought that Great -Britain, France and other European countries would take responsibility for protecting Ukraine on the spot after a peace agreement between Kiev and Moscow.
The armed forces of Ukraine would patrol in a demilitarized zone that includes the length of the front line, while troops of an Anglo-French 'reassurance' would be stationed at important infrastructure places in the entire country.
NATO -Air and Marine assets would also perform reconnaissance missions about Ukraine and in the Black Sea.
In theory, the presence of the Western junk would try to scare future Russian attacks, with their safety confirmed by American fighter jets and rockets that remain at Stand -By in Eastern Europe as a 'backstop'.
The American backstop would be implemented to ensure that “any forces are used, will not be challenged by Russia,” officials said with knowledge of the plans.
But there are fears that the US could refuse to provide air coverage under Donald Trump, while Russia has confirmed that Western troops used in Ukraine would be treated as fighters.
The apparent restraint of the White House to maintain European security has caused a new era of REEMPOLENTION in the EU.
In the course of his two periods, Macron has initiated a doubling of the French defense budget and has recently set an even higher objective, and said that the country should increase defense spending to 3-3.5% of the economic output of the current 2%.
Earlier this week he visited a French Air Force Base near Germany to explain fighter jets that are equipped with a new generation of hypersonic nuclear missiles there would be stationed as part of a revision of France's nuclear daunting agent in the air.
Keir Starmer and Minister of Defense John Healey aboard a nuclear arming Vanguard Class Submarine this week when it returned to Faslane
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to soldiers on the Luxeuil-Saint-Sauveur Airbase, in Saint-Sauveur, Noordoost-Frankrijk, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Mirage (L) and Rafale (R) Righter Jets can be seen in the background
French President Emmanuel Macron stands with Pierre Gaudilliere, military governor of Nancy, in front of a Dassault Rafale hunter in Luxeuil-Saint-Sauveur Airbase, France March 18, 2025
Friedrich Merz, leader of the German Conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, raises his hand during a vote during a session of the Bundestag (Lower of Parliament) on March 18, 2025 in Berlin
France's raafal fighter jet can be seen in the current nuclear capable hypersonic cruise rocket in France (center)
“We have not yet waited for 2022 or the turning point that we now see to discover that the world in which we live is increasingly dangerous, increasingly insecure, and that it implies to innovate, build and become more autonomous,” he said Tuesday.
“I will announce new investments in the coming weeks to go beyond what has been done in the last seven years,” he said, adding that the government would order extra Rafale war aircraft from the French space manufacturer Dassault Aviation to replace outdated Mirage -of which some were sent to Ukraine.
Macron has also offered to extend the protection of the nuclear weapons of France, the so -called nuclear umbrella to other European countries.
In the meantime, the German Parliament approved a plan this week that was explained by Chancellor who waited for Friedrich Merz for a massive expenditure increase in the hope of breathing new life into economic growth and scaling up military expenditures.
After the worldwide financial crisis of 2008, Germany imposed a so -called 'debt' that dramatically limited the lending of the government.
But the move, seen as an important economic backstop for a long time, has been criticized in recent months from the fear that it would prevent Germany from increasing its defense issues sufficiently.
Now Merz's Conservatives and Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) – which after last month's elections are a central coalition – want to remove the debt and want to create a € 500 billion fund to improve the infrastructure of Germany and to increase the defense industrial basis.
“We have felt a false sense of safety for at least ten years,” Merz told progress for the mood yesterday.
“The decision we make today about Defense Establishment … can be nothing less than the first big step towards a new European defense community,” he said.
The legislation still has to go to the Bundesrat Hogerhuis for a new vote on Friday, but is expected to pass.
In the aftermath of the Bundestag that voted through the expenditure plan, Merz simply stated: “Germany is back.”
The mood was also received with widespread praise from European allies, including Macron who delivered a joint press conference with the departing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz after a visit to Luxeuil.
“I want to congratulate you on the historical mood of the Bundestag, which is good news for Germany and good news for Europe, because it will enable it to do more for defense and investments,” he said reporters.
Scholz, together with Macron, said that “strengthening the European Pillar or NATO will strengthen the Transatlantic Alliance as a whole.”
And chairman of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that the green lighting of the spending package of the Bundestag was 'excellent news because it also sends a very clear message to Europe that Germany is determined to invest en masse in defense'.
