Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and French President Emmanuel Macron have held talks in Warsaw to discuss European support for Ukraine ahead of the incoming Donald Trump-led administration in the United States.
Speaking at a press conference in the Polish capital after a lunchtime meeting, Mr Macron said France and Poland had "a common vision that only a durable peace" will protect Ukraine's security in the future.
"We need to work very closely with the US administration and take into consideration the interests of Ukraine's sovereignty and European security," Mr Macron said.
The French president also said that there can be "no peace in Ukraine without the Ukrainians", adding that there can also be "no security in Europe without Europeans".
It was a clear demand from Mr Macron that both Ukraine and European countries should be represented at any future peace talks to end the war.
French diplomatic sources told the Reuters news agency earlier this week that both leaders would discuss the idea of sending European peacekeeping troops to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.
During the press conference, Mr Tusk said he wanted to "end speculation" about Polish troops being deployed to Ukraine in a post-war scenario.
"We are not planning such actions for now," he said, adding that any such decision on Polish troop deployments would only be taken in Warsaw.
The Polish prime minister also said that Poland requires European support for the defence of its border with Belarus and highlighted the need to tackle Russian interference in elections in eastern Europe, a reference to recent votes in Moldova, Georgia and Romania.
Mr Tusk said that Poland would "not tolerate" any Russian interference in next year's Polish presidential election, expected to be held in August 2025.
At this afternoon's press conference, Mr Macron called on European countries to increase their investments in defence, echoing a push from many European capitals to bolster Europe's defence industry.
Mr Trump has been critical of members of military alliance that do not meet the current 2% defence spending target.
The Financial Times reported this morning that European members of NATO are holding discussions on raising the threshold for annual defence expenditure to 3% of GDP, up from the current level of 2%.
The move by European NATO members to spend more on defence is in response to the possibility of reduced US military aid for Ukraine under the new Trump administration.
Poland has committed to spending 4.7% of its GDP on defence in 2025, making it the largest spender on defence among European NATO members in percentage terms.
Estonia and Latvia have surpassed the 3% mark this year.
France currently spends just over 2% of its annual GDP on defence, whereas other big NATO members such as Canada, Italy and Spain are yet to meet the 2% threshold set by the alliance.
The meeting in Warsaw comes just weeks ahead of the start of Poland's Presidency of the Council of the EU, a rotating six-month term, which starts on 1 January.
Mr Macron also met Polish President Andrzej Duda in the Polish capital this afternoon.
