FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the media during a refueling stop at Shannon Airport in Shannon, Ireland, March 12, 2025. SAUL LOEB/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
PARIS (Reuters) - European and Ukrainian officials kicked off a day of talks in Paris on Thursday to plead Kyiv's case to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff.
The high level diplomacy reflects Europe's mounting concern over the U.S. administration's overtures towards Moscow, after the failure so far of Trump's efforts to arrange a ceasefire in the three-year-old Russia-Ukraine war. The U.S. officials were also due to discuss nuclear talks with Iran during their visit to Paris.
Trump, who has long said he aims to swiftly end the Ukraine war, has indicated he is frustrated with both Moscow and Kyiv, even as his administration has shifted U.S. rhetoric towards accommodating the Russian account of the conflict.
Ukraine agreed to a Trump proposal last month for a ceasefire which Russia rejected. The sides have agreed only to curbs on attacks against energy targets and at sea, which both accuse each other of violating.
Kyiv and its European allies say Moscow is to blame for rejecting Trump's proposal of a ceasefire last month, and are hoping to persuade Washington to take a tougher line. They have pressed the case since a Russian attack that killed civilians including Ukrainian Christian worshippers in the city of Sumy on Sunday.
"I'm just trying to get it stopped so that we can save a lot of lives," Trump said of the war on Sunday.
French President Emmanuel Macron's foreign policy advisor Emmanuel Bonne hugged Witkoff as he arrived at the French presidency's Elysee Palace for talks, before a lunch between Macron, Witkoff, and Rubio.
Before that, Bonne and his British and German counterparts met Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. According to the French agenda for the day, Yermak was due to take part in a meeting with Rubio, Witkoff and the European envoys later on Thursday.
The arrival of a Ukrainian delegation in Paris was not previously announced ahead of what Washington had described as planned talks between Rubio, Witkoff and French officials.
"We are working on important issues for the security of Ukraine and the whole of Europe," Yermak said on X.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said: "The parties will discuss ways to achieve a complete ceasefire, the involvement of a multinational military contingent to guarantee sustainable peace, further development of Ukraine's security architecture and ensuring the security of our country."
The Kremlin described the Paris meetings as a chance for Witkoff, who met President Vladimir Putin for five hours last week, to inform Europeans of the status of talks about the search for a peace settlement in Ukraine.
IRAN TALKS
In addition to discussing the war in Ukraine, U.S. and French officials said they would also discuss Washington's efforts to reach a nuclear deal with Iran.
Witkoff plans to fly on to Rome for a second round of discussions on Saturday with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi about Iran's nuclear program. They met for 45 minutes last Saturday in Oman.
Both sides described last weekend's talks as positive while acknowledging that any potential deal remains distant.
Trump, who abandoned an earlier nuclear deal with Iran during his first term in 2018, said on Monday he was willing to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities if a new deal was not reached.
The United States had not told European countries about the nuclear talks in Oman before Trump announced them.
(Reporting by Steve Holland in Washington and Elizabeth Pineau and Michel Rose in Paris; additional reporting by Anastasiia Malenko; writing by Ingrid Melander and Steve Holland; Editing by Humeyra Pamuk, Peter Graff)
