Paris conference to belie 'doom and gloom' on Ukraine, Elysee says

26/2/2024 19:13

        Some 20 European leaders will gather in Paris on Monday to send Russian President Vladimir Putin a message of European resolve on Ukraine and counter the Kremlin's narrative that Russia is bound to win a war now entering its third year, France said.
        
        French President Emmanuel Macron has invited his European counterparts to the Elysee palace for a working meeting announced at short notice because of what his advisers say is an escalation in Russian aggression over the past few weeks.
        
        "We want to send Putin a very clear message, that he won't win in Ukraine," a presidential adviser told reporters in a briefing. "Our goal is to crush this idea he wants us to believe that he would be somehow winning."
        
        After initial successes in pushing back the Russian army, Ukraine has suffered setbacks on eastern battlefields, with its generals complaining of shortages of arms and soldiers.