Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged European countries to provide guarantees to protect Ukraine after the war with Russia ends but said these would not be enough without support from the United States under Donald Trump.
While the fighting triggered by Russia's 2022 invasion goes on with no end in sight, Western and Ukrainian officials have begun discussing post-war scenarios, prompted in part by president-elect Trump's pledge to bring the conflict to a swift conclusion.
Addressing a summit of European Union leaders, Mr Zelensky welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron's proposal to deploy troops to Ukraine following an eventual ceasefire.
He told the leaders it was "crucial for Europe to make a significant contribution to security guarantees".
"We support France's initiative for a military contingent in Ukraine as part of these guarantees and call on other partners to join this effort, it will help bring the war to an end," he told the closed-door meeting, according to a text posted on his website.
Mr Zelensky said Ukraine would ultimately need more protection through membership of the NATO military alliance. NATO has said Ukraine will join its ranks one day, but it has not set a date or issued an invitation.
In the meantime, Mr Zelensky said, Ukraine could have separate guarantees from European nations and the United States.
"It is impossible to discuss this only with European leaders, because for us, the real guarantees in any case – today or in the future - are NATO," he told reporters.
"On the way to NATO, we want security guarantees while we are not in NATO. And we can discuss such guarantees separately with both the US. and Europe," he said.
Whether Mr Trump would be prepared to offer such guarantees is an open question.
Mr Trump has repeatedly called for a swift end to the nearly three-year-old war. On Monday he said Mr Zelensky should be ready to reach a peace deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, though he did not say whether this meant Ukraine ceding territory to Russia as part of a negotiated settlement.
Russian forces occupy nearly a fifth of Ukrainian territory and are making steady advances in the east of the country.
EU leaders aimed to use the summit to send a clear signal to Mr Trump about their continued support for Ukraine and stress that any peace deal must involve Ukraine and respect its territorial integrity.
"The European Council ...underlines the principle that no initiative regarding Ukraine be taken without Ukraine," said an official declaration issued by the summit.
Mr Zelensky said any end to fighting would have to be durable.
"We cannot live with a frozen conflict in our territory," he told reporters.
The EU leaders were also due to discuss wider EU-US relations, amid concerns of a possible transatlantic trade war.
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Mr Trump has said the EU will "pay a big price" with tariffs for not buying enough US exports. He has already pledged hefty tariffs on three of the United States' largest trading partners- Canada, Mexico and China.
EU diplomats have said the key for the bloc is unity and avoidance of Washington conducting discussions or deals with single EU members - a copy of its unified strategy for dealing with Britain during Brexit negotiations.
The EU will seek to point out it is the United States' second-biggest trading partner and a close ally with shared values. However, mindful that Mr Trump is preoccupied by the US goods trade deficit, EU officials have floated the idea of offering to buy more US LNG or arms.
"If the US is looking at China, then we should stick together - Europe and the United States. If we have a trade war between the US and the EU, then who is laughing out loud? It is China," said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
Taoiseach Simon Harris is attending in Brussels, to stress the Irish government’s commitment to non-lethal aid, and to Ukraine’s accession to the EU which would be one more security guarantee.
Despite resigning yesterday ahead of the first sitting of the 34th Dáil, Mr Harris continues to serve as Taoiseach until a successor is appointed at the conclusion of government formation talks. The Cabinet will also remain in office.
