Europe tries to muscle up as U.S. plots mediation to help end Russia’s war in Ukraine

MUNICH — European leaders took steps Sunday to answer assertive U.S. efforts to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, as France announced a meeting of continental leaders and Baltic countries called for new steps to strengthen Ukraine’s hand in any future talks.

The jockeying for position by Europe comes as the Trump administration has quickly sought to mediate an end to the fighting three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

With Moscow’s forces making some territorial gains in eastern Ukraine in recent months, Finnish President Alexander Stubb on the last day of the Munich Security Conference called for “maximum pressure on Russia” through sanctions and asset freezes in the lead-up to any talks.

He laid out three phases: “pre-negotiation,” cease-fire and long-term peace talks.

“The first phase is the pre-negotiation, and this is a moment when we need to rearm Ukraine and put maximum pressure on Russia, which means sanctions, which means frozen assets, so that Ukraine begins these negotiations from a position of strength,” Stubb said.

Macron mobilizes European leaders

French President Emmanuel Macron is rallying European leaders, with his foreign minister announcing an emergency “working meeting” on Ukraine’s next steps.

Speaking to France-Info on Sunday, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot sought to project a united front: “A wind of unity is blowing over Europe, as we perhaps have not felt since the COVID period.”

Macron had called for “consultations between European leaders on the situation in Ukraine and the security challenges in Europe.”

He will host an informal afternoon meeting Monday with the leaders of Germany, Britain, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark, as well as European Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

The discussions could continue in other formats, according to the French statement, with the goal of “bringing together all partners interested in peace and security in Europe.”

News reports said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk were among those expected in Paris.

Trump’s diplomatic push setting a pace

President Trump’s push for a quick way out of Russia’s war in Ukraine stirred concern and uncertainty in Munich.

After a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, Trump said that he and Putin would likely meet soon to negotiate a peace deal over Ukraine. Trump later assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky he also would have a seat at the table. U.S. officials have indicated that European nations, however, wouldn’t be involved.

“Don’t underestimate Trump as a negotiator. I genuinely believe that Putin is baffled and afraid what might be coming from there,” Stubb said. “Right now, the ball is in our court here in Europe. We need to convince the Americans where’s the value added, and then get back in to the table.”

“I think in Europe we need to talk less and do more,” he said later.

President Edgars Rinkēvičs of Latvia, which like Finland borders Russia, agreed that “if we are strong, if we have something to offer ... then we are going to be interesting to the United States. If you just continue having those nice conferences, talking and whining, then we are not going to be interesting to our own publics very soon.”

He also noted “a point that probably went unnoticed Friday” in Munich, which was Von der Leyen’s “important announcement” that she would propose a temporary waiver of EU budgetary rules in crisis situations — this time to allow for extra defense spending.

“I can announce that I will propose to activate the ‘escape clause’ for defense investments,” she said. “This will allow member states to substantially increase their defense expenditure. Of course, we will have to do this in a controlled and conditional way.”

Much more at Munich: Tariffs and trade too

The three-day Munich conference was a hub of crisscrossing diplomacy on issues of politics, economics, and defense and security, with top envoys on hand from places as diverse as Syria and Saudi Arabia, and Japan and South Korea, as well as many European leaders.

On Saturday, Zelensky called for the creation of an “armed forces of Europe” to better stand up to an expansionist Russia that also could threaten the 27-nation EU.

In an interview with U.S. television network NBC that aired on Sunday, Zelensky ratcheted up his warnings and said that Ukraine had shared intelligence with partners indicating that Putin was “preparing to train 150,000 people mostly on the territory of Belarus.” He also said that Europe has fewer brigades than Russia.

“The risk that Russia will occupy Europe is 100%,” he said in comments to the “Meet the Press” program recorded Friday.

On Saturday, Zelensky told the Associated Press that he had directed his ministers not to sign off on a proposed agreement to give the United States access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, because the document was too focused on U.S. interests.

The proposal was a key part of his talks with U.S. Vice President JD Vance on the sidelines of the Munich event, according to one current and one former senior Ukrainian official familiar with the talks. Zelensky’s decision not to sign a deal, at least for now, was described as “shortsighted” by a senior White House official.

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters in Munich on Saturday that he has asked U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to exclude Japan from steel and aluminum tariffs as well as from reciprocal tariff measures.

Iwaya, who had a brief chat with the top U.S. diplomat on the sidelines of the conference, said that he also “raised the issue” of automobile tariffs, though he gave no further details. If imposed, the impact of the tariffs on the Japanese auto industry would be huge, experts say.

Burrows writes for the Associated Press. The AP’s Joanna Kozlowska in London, Angela Charlton and Thomas Adamson in Paris, and Jamey Keaten in Lyon, France, contributed to this report.