Paris, 26 March 2025 (dpa/MIA) - French President Emmanuel Macron is set to receive Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday evening ahead of a summit of countries willing to help guarantee a possible peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia.

France and the United Kingdom have been leading an initiative to form a so-called "coalition of the willing," which would be made up of countries prepared to provide security guarantees in the event of a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

The concept is to be finalized at a summit in Paris on Thursday.

Ukraine's Western allies are considering monitoring a possible demilitarized zone on the border between Russia and Ukraine, according to information obtained by dpa.

This would be done primarily from the air and with the help of technical means such as satellites and drones. Naval units could also be deployed to monitor freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.

According to the plans, a peacekeeping force in the conventional sense could be mobilized through the United Nations, consisting exclusively of soldiers from non-partisan third countries.

European forces could then be stationed on Ukraine's western border and offer training programmes for their Ukrainian partners. The overarching security guarantor would be the nuclear superpower of the United States.

Macron is to receive Zelensky at 6 pm (1700 GMT).

Photo: EPA