Ukraine's allies praise major progress on defense guarantees if a peace deal is struck with Russia

PARIS (AP) — Ukraine’s allies said they made major progress Tuesday toward agreeing on how to defend the country if a peace deal is struck with Russia, saying they were ready to provide international guarantees to deter Moscow from attacking its neighbor again.

Plans discussed at a key meeting in Paris included having the U.S. lead an effort to monitor any ceasefire — which could give Washington a direct role in keeping any peace with Russia.

Leaders from 27 European countries and Canada, as well as U.S. representatives and top officials from the European Union and NATO, said they would provide Kyiv’s front-line forces with equipment and training and back them up with air, land and sea support to deter any future Russian attack.

This was the 15th and largest meeting of the so-called "coalition of the willing" — involving more heads of state and governments than ever and U.S. envoys in person for the first time.

The post-ceasefire architecture would also include beefing up Ukraine’s war-battered army, including by replenishing its weapons stocks, so it could act as the country’s front-line deterrence against a resumption of fighting.

There was no immediate comment from officials in Russia on Tuesday, which was the eve of Orthodox Christmas.

The size of the supporting forces was not made public, and many of the details of the plan — which would only apply if a ceasefire enters into force — remain unclear.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the meeting made “excellent progress” but cautioned that “the hardest yards are still ahead,” noting that Russian attacks on Ukraine continue.

Moscow has revealed few details of its stance in the U.S.-led peace negotiations. Officials have reaffirmed Russia’s demands and have insisted there can be no ceasefire until a comprehensive settlement is agreed. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ruled out any deployment of troops from NATO countries on Ukrainian soil.

Starmer added that there can only be peace if Russia compromises, and added: “Putin is not showing that he is ready for peace.”

In the event of a ceasefire, Starmer said the U.K. and France “will establish military hubs across Ukraine and build protected facilities for weapons and military equipment to support Ukraine’s defensive needs.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed progress was made in the talks, although commitments need to be ratified by each country so that they can be put in place after any settlement.

“We determined what countries are ready to take leadership in the elements of security guarantees on the ground, in the air, and at sea, and in restoration,” Zelenskyy told a news conference in Paris. “We determined what forces are needed. We determined, how these forces will be operated and at what levels of command.”

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said the U.S. “strongly stands behind” security guarantees. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who also participated in the meeting, called the Paris meeting “a very, very, big milestone.”

“This does not mean we will make peace, but peace would not be possible without the progress that we have made today,” Kushner said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the security statement endorsed by Ukraine’s allies is a “significant step” toward ending Russia’s invasion. The coalition plans also envisage a Ukrainian army with 800,000 troops, he said.

A joint statement issued following the meeting said the allies also agreed to continue long-term military assistance and armament to Ukraine’s armed forces, which “will remain the first line of defense and deterrence” after any peace deal is signed.

The allies still must finalize “binding commitments” setting out what they will do to support Ukraine, the statement said.

The outcome of the meeting had been uncertain as the Trump administration's focus is shifting to Venezuela, while U.S. suggestions of a Greenland takeover caused tension with Europe, and Moscow shows no signs of compromise.

A series of meetings on the summit's sidelines illustrated the intensity of the diplomatic effort and the complexity of its moving parts.

Zelenskyy met with Macron ahead of the summit. French, British and Ukrainian military chiefs also met, with NATO’s top commander, U.S. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, participating in talks that France’s army chief said focused on implementing security guarantees. Army chiefs from other coalition nations joined by video.

Macron’s office said the U.S. delegation was initially set to be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but he changed his plans after the U.S. military intervention in Venezuela.

Trump on Sunday renewed his call for the U.S. to take control of Greenland, a strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island.

The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the U.K. on Tuesday joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in defending Greenland’s sovereignty in the wake of Trump’s comments about the self-governing territory of the kingdom of Denmark.

Macron on Tuesday declined answering a question on Greenland as he was speaking about Ukraine alongside U.S. envoys Kushner and Witkoff.

In fighting Tuesday, Ukraine’s Security Service carried out drone strikes on a military arsenal and an oil depot deep inside Russia, according to a security official who was not authorized to comment publicly and thus spoke on condition of anonymity.

The long-range drones hit the arsenal in Russia’s Kostroma region, triggering explosions that lasted for hours and forced the evacuation of nearby settlements, the official said. The site was described as a key logistics hub supplying ammunition in western and central Russia.

In a separate strike, Ukraine Security Service drones hit an oil depot in Russia’s Lipetsk region, causing a huge fire, the official said.

John Leicester in Paris; Volodymyr Yurchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine; Will Weissert in Washington; Jill Lawless in London and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron, right, shakes hands to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the signing of the declaration on deploying post-ceasefire force in Ukraine during the 'Coalition of the Willing' summit on security guarantees for Ukraine, at the Elysee Palace in Paris Tuesday, Jan 6, 2026. (Ludovic Marin, Pool photo via AP)

From the left, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US businessman Jared Kushner attend a joint press conference after the signing of the declaration on deploying post-ceasefire force in Ukraine during the 'Coalition of the Willing' summit on security guarantees for Ukraine, at the Elysee Palace in Paris Tuesday, Jan 6, 2026. (Ludovic Marin, Pool photo via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron, right, shakes hands to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the signing of the declaration on deploying post-ceasefire force in Ukraine during the 'Coalition of the Willing' summit on security guarantees for Ukraine, at the Elysee Palace in Paris Tuesday, Jan 6, 2026. (Ludovic Marin, Pool photo via AP)

Jared Kushner, second left, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, right, arrive for a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Tuesday, Jan.6, 2026. (Yoan Valat, Pool photo via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrive for a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Tuesday, Jan.6, 2026. (Yoan Valat, Pool photo via AP)

United States Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, right, and Jared Kushner arrive for a meeting of the 'Coalition of the Willing' on Ukraine at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, meets with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Elysee Palace as part of the Coalition of the Willing meeting in Paris, France, Tuesday, Jan.6, 2026. (Yoan Valat, Pool photo via AP)

Republican Guards walk in the snow covered courtyard of the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

French President Emmanuel Macron, right, gestures as Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney leaves the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

United States Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, right, and Jared Kushner arrive for a meeting of the 'Coalition of the Willing' on Ukraine at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, is greeted by French President Emmanuel Macron, right, as he arrives for a meeting of the 'Coalition of the Willing' on Ukraine at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, is greeted by French President Emmanuel Macron as he arrives for a meeting of the 'Coalition of the Willing' on Ukraine at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a briefing in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A day after closing out the 2025 Holy Year, Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday opened a new phase of his pontificate by gathering the world’s cardinals to Rome and indicating some reform-minded priorities going forward.

For starters, Leo signalled an emphasis on more fully implementing the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, the 1960s meetings that modernized and revolutionized the Catholic Church. He called the Vatican II teachings the “guiding star” of the church.

Leo told his weekly general audience that for the foreseeable future, he would devote his weekly catechism lessons to a rereading of key Vatican II documents, noting that the generation of bishops and theologians who had attended the meetings and crafted the reforms are dead.

“Therefore, while we hear the call not to let its prophecy fade, and to continue to seek ways and means to implement its insights, it will be important to get to know it again closely, and to do so not through hearsay or interpretations that have been given, but by rereading its documents and reflecting on their content,” he said. “Indeed, it is the magisterium that still constitutes the guiding star of the church’s journey today.”

Among other things, Vatican II allowed for use of the vernacular rather than Latin for Mass. It called for greater participation of lay faithful in the life of the church and revolutionized Catholic relations with Jews and people of other faiths.

Leo has also indicated a reform-minded agenda for his two-day meeting of cardinals, which gets under way Wednesday afternoon.

He called the consistory, as such meetings are known, to begin the day after he closed the 2025 Holy Year, suggesting that he too saw the end of the Jubilee as an opportunity to unofficially start his pontificate and look ahead to his own agenda.

Leo’s first few months as pope were dominated by fulfilling the intense Holy Year obligations of meeting with pilgrimage groups, celebrating special Jubilee audiences and Masses and wrapping up the outstanding matters of Pope Francis’ pontificate.

The Vatican said Leo's first consistory was aimed at “fostering common discernment and offering support and advice to the Holy Father in the exercise of his high and grave responsibility in the government of the universal church.”

It was a significant gesture, since Francis had relied not on consistories or the College of Cardinals as a whole to help him govern, but rather a small, hand-picked group of nine cardinals who met every few months at the Vatican.

Before the May conclave that elected Leo, cardinals had complained about Francis’ go-it-alone governing style, suggesting that Leo is responding to their requests to be consulted more about running the 1.4-billion strong church.

On the agenda is a discussion of two of Francis’ key reform documents: his original mission statement issued at the start of his pontificate, and the 2022 document that reformed the Vatican bureaucracy. Also being discussed is Francis' call for the church to be more “synodal,” or responsive to the needs of rank-and-file Catholics, and a discussion of the liturgy, according to Vatican News.

The last agenda item is believed to refer to divisions within the church over the old Latin Mass, which was celebrated before the Vatican II reforms allowed Mass in different languages, with the active participation of the faithful.

Francis had greatly restricted the celebration of the old Latin Mass, arguing its spread in recent years had created divisions in the church. But Francis’ crackdown fueled a strong conservative and traditionalist backlash against him, especially in the United States, which the Chicago-born Leo seems keen to try to pacify.

There are currently 245 cardinals, almost equally split between those who are under age 80 and voted in the conclave that elected Leo, and those who are older. The Vatican hasn’t said how many are expected to attend.

One senior cardinal, though, was listed prominently on Leo’s agenda of private audiences Wednesday: Cardinal Joseph Zen, the retired archbishop of Hong Kong. Zen, who turns 94 next week, was a fierce conservative critic of Francis, especially over the pope's outreach to China, and complained for years that the Argentine Jesuit wouldn’t receive him in private audience.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Pope Leo XIV meets Cardinals and Bishops at the end of his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV arrives for his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)