Ukraine updates: France and UK propose 'reassurance force'

Outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticized the United States' push to loosen sanctions on Russia.

"It makes no sense to end the sanctions as long as peace has not actually been achieved," he said. "Unfortunately we are still a long way from that."

He added that by continuing to alter the deal for a ceasefire, "it can clearly be seen that Russia is not currently interested in real peace."

Meanwhile, Scholz remained cautious about Macron and Starmer's intent to put European troops in Ukraine after a future ceasefire.

He said Germany is "concentrating on what is immediately at hand" by continuing to support the Ukrainian army.

Scholz also criticized US President Donald Trump's announcement of new tariffs.

"Trump's decision is wrong… the US has chosen a path at whose end lie only losers, since tariffs and isolation hurt prosperity for everyone," he said.

Reacting to a proposal by the leaders of Frane and the UK to deploy European troops to Ukraine in future, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was skeptical about the plan for "reassurance forces."

"What it can do, how it can be used, who will be in charge of it — there are many questions. So far, there are few answers," Zelenskyy said.

He also called for a "reaction from the US" after Russia is said to have attacked several energy hubs, potentially violating the intended ceasefire.

For the Ukrainian leader, the attack proves "Russia does not want any kind of peace," and that the country is trying to pit both sides of the Atlantic against each other.

"He really wants to divide Europe and America. Putin really wants that," he added.

Zelenskyy also described the US push to end sanctions against Russia as "very dangerous signals" from his former number one backer.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has expressed his determination to preserve a positive European relationship with the United States.

"For us, good transatlantic relations are a strategic matter, and they must survive more than one term, one prime minister, one president, on both sides of the Atlantic," he said at the Paris summit.

Tusk, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, noted a "lack of fondness for Europe" from the American side.

He said "the only conclusion is that Europe must be the one to assume responsibility for the survival of the transatlantic relationship."

But he stressed that a good relationship should not involve begging from the European side.

"We will definitely be acting with common sense," he said. "Calmly, but not on our knees."

Tusk's comments follow US President Trump's latest announcement of tariffs to begin on April 2nd. His country, Poland, currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is certain that Europe is ready to enforce any peace deal for Ukraine.

"We will be ready to operationalize a peace deal whatever its precise shape turns out to be," he told the Paris summit, adding that Europe "will work together to ensure Ukraine's security so it can defend and deter against the future."

Earlier, French President Macron discussed a joint British-French strategy to advise Ukraine's military. The plan would help the military prepare for any future Russian attacks, should a peace deal ever be broken.

But Starmer stressed the urgency of a ceasefire coming into effect.

"I don't want to put a hard deadline on this, but we need to see this developing in days and weeks, not months and months," he said to the summit.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Europe must be ready to support Ukraine without assistance from the United States.

"Europe must be prepared in case America is not with us, and if that means we have to act alone," he told the summit.

In recent weeks, the United States' commitments to supporting Ukraine have diminished drastically, as the Trump administration seeks to cut a peace deal with Russia without EU input.

The US has also encouraged European countries to lift sanctions on Russia, though Macron has spoken out against the idea.

But he sees a positive development in relations among European Union member states.

"Europeans are more audacious, united and determined than a few weeks ago," he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that a "reassurance force with several European countries" is planned for Ukraine to safeguard a potential ceasefire with Russia.

Speaking to the summit in Paris, he noted the concept is still in a planning phase and that some member states do not agree with the strategy. But he is certain that not all EU countries must back the plan for it to come into reality.

"It is not unanimous," he said, adding that "we do not need unanimity to achieve it."

He also said a British-French military delegation will advise Ukraine in strengthening its army.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that Ukraine had targeted a transformer substation in the Russian region of Bryansk in the past 24 hours.

The ministry also said that it had shot down a drone that was targeting an underground gas storage facility in Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

The accusations come amid an agreed moratorium on targeting energy infrastructure in both Ukraine and Russia.

The Defense Ministry's claims could not be independently verified. French news agency AFP on Thursday cited a Ukrainian official saying that neither side had hit energy infrastructure since Tuesday, when the moratorium was announced by the US.

The French presidency said on Thursday that President Emmanuel Macron had spoken with his US counterpart Donald Trump ahead of the summit on strengthening Ukraine.

The US is not taking part in Thursday's meeting amid a more general rift between the US and Europe over questions of who is responsible for security.

Paris did not say what the two leaders discussed exactly or how Trump responded to Macron's call.

The head of the European Council, Antonio Costa, also joined Thursday's summit in Paris.

He said the best way to help Ukraine achieve peace with Russia was to maintain the "pressure" on Moscow.

"The best way to support Ukraine is to stay consistent in our objective to reach a just and lasting peace," Costa said in a post on social media. "This means keeping up the pressure on Russia through sanctions."

"I will convey this message at today's leaders' meeting," he added.

Following reports on Wednesday that four US soldiers had died during a training close to the Belarusian border in Lithuania, NATO clarified that this had not been confirmed.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Wednesday that the four soldiers who had gone missing had been found dead. However, NATO later clarified that the US military had not confirmed any deaths.

"The search is ongoing," NATO said in a statement posted on X. "We regret any confusion about remarks [Rutte] delivered on this today. He was referring to emerging news reports & was not confirming the fate of the missing, which is still unknown."

The US military has confirmed that the vehicle the soldiers were in had been found submerged in a body of water, but that recovery efforts were still underway.

Leaders from across Europe have been arriving in Paris for Thursday's summit on boosting security for Ukraine.

France has increasingly taken the lead in supporting Ukraine after the US, its biggest military backer, has started to pull away under the new Trump administration.

NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte has repeatedly appealed for European unity among the alliance's member states as they work on scaling up their militaries. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke to European journalists on Wednesday after meeting with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron. 

He expressed his gratitude to the US for its support against the Russian invasion, but also remarked that some US officials were repeating Russian propaganda.

Zelenskyy gave the example of special advisor Steve Witkoff who recently said some Ukrainians living in Russian-occupied territories want to live under Russian rule.

"I believe that Witkoff indeed very frequently quotes Kremlin narratives," the Ukrainian leader said, adding that Witkoff's statements "do not bring us closer to peace" and "will weaken American pressure on Russia."

He also cast doubt on Russia's commitment to the ceasefire proposals put forward by the US and said that Ukraine's future security would be best guaranteed by NATO membership.

Thursday's summit comes amid attempts by the Trump administration to find a workable ceasefire deal with Russia.

Moscow and Kyiv have both confirmed their agreement to the outlines of a possible ceasefire deal in the Black Sea.

While these moves have been welcomed to some extent, European leaders have also been alarmed by decisions made in Washington that have undermined Ukraine's security, such as the temporary suspension of military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

As a result, Europe is looking to provide its own security guarantees independently of its NATO ally. 

Macron met with Zelenskyy on Wednesday ahead of Thursday's summit. He said this was now a "decisive phase to put an end to the war of aggression" started by Russia.

Some 26 European leaders — including Germany's caretaker Chancellor Olaf Scholz — are set to meet with Zelenskyy in Paris. The summit is set to kick off at 0800 GMT with a press conference planned for the afternoon.

One of the points on the agenda will likely be the option of sending European peacekeeping forces to Ukraine, once a ceasefire deal is sealed, to act as a deterrent against future Russian attacks.

The Ukrainian president on Wednesday said he was hoping for "strong decisions" at Thursday's summit.

North Korea has sent 3,000 more troops to Russia as reinforcement this year, South Korea's military said on Thursday. 

According to Seoul, Pyongyang also continues aiding Moscow's Ukraine war efforts with artillery and ammunition.

The two countries have strengthened military ties since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In a rare visit to North Korea last year Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a mutual defense agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

While neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has officially confirmed the troop deployment, according to South Korea about 11,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to aid Russian war efforts with 4,000 of them killed or wounded.

"In addition to manpower, North Korea continues to supply missiles, artillery equipment, and ammunition," the South Korean report said.

Experts warn that the nuclear-armed North may be testing weapons for export to Russia for use against Ukraine.

They also point out that North Korean troops fighting in Ukraine are gaining modern combat experience, particularly in drone warfare.

Russian drone strikes on Kharkiv late on Wednesday injured at least 15 people and caused significant damage, Ukrainian officials said.

Oleh Syniehubov, the region's military governor, posted on Telegram that eight people were injured in the city of Kharkiv and seven more in the village of Zolochiv.

The emergency services also reported fires in the city center, while confirming that multiple buildings were hit, including civil infrastructure. 

Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported at least 12 drone strikes on the city.

Syniehubov said the injured included two minors.

Drone strikes also caused fires in Dnipro, however no casualties were reported. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video showing an explosion next to a football field where children are playing condemning Russia's shelling of civilian areas using of Iranian-made Shahed drones

Zelenskyy said that a US proposal for an unconditional ceasefire has been on the table for weeks but warned that "without pressure on Russia, there will be no result."