Ukraine allies meet in Paris to boost air defence, pressure Russia to end war

Ukraine’s allies gathered in Paris on Monday to ramp up support for Kyiv, particularly in air defence, and increase pressure on Russia to end the war, which is well into its fifth year.

Representatives of the 37 coalition members, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, arrived at Les Invalides in the French capital for the summit of the Coalition of the Willing, launched by France and the United Kingdom to provide military support to Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The coalition is expected to announce the first joint exercises of the Multinational Force for Ukraine, to demonstrate its readiness to deploy once the fighting has ended, military sources said.

Leaders are also expected to focus on cooperation on air and missile defence with Ukraine, whose air defences have come under strain from repeated Russian ballistic missile strikes in recent weeks.

The meeting is “to make sure that the commitment is still there from all nations”, Sweden’s top military commander Michael Claesson told journalists.

Before the summit, nine European countries and Ukraine announced the formation of a coalition to develop “purely defensive” anti-ballistic capabilities for Europe, citing a growing threat from such missiles.