European powers outlined to the U.S. last week their red lines for any prospective Ukraine-Russia peace agreement, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said, ahead of a fresh round of talks scheduled Wednesday.
Ukraine, the U.S., France, Britain and Germany on Thursday in Paris held their first joint talks since President Donald Trump came to power, sharing their views on ways to end the more than three-year war.
Senior officials, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will meet again in London on Wednesday.
"The only objective that concerns us is to defend French interests and European security. It's the reason that as the U.S. decide to place itself in a mediator position that we make them hear what our 'red lines' are," Barrot told franceinfo radio Tuesday, referring to issues that the European leaders would not budge on. He did not elaborate.
Asked whether he thought that Trump's assertion that a peace deal could be announced this week was credible, Barrot said it depended on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"I think that the (Easter) truce which he (Putin) decreed somewhat surprisingly was a marketing operation, a seduction operation aimed at avoiding that President Trump gets impatient," Barrot said.
Despite repeated violations of the truce, he said there had at least been a drop in intensity regarding drones and long-range missiles, which could perhaps open the door for a further truce.
