Europe talks up defense spending amid Ukraine peacekeeper plan divisions

European leaders on Monday called for higher spending to ramp up the continent's defense capabilities but remained split on the idea of deploying peacekeepers to Ukraine to back up any peace deal.

The leaders, who met in Paris for emergency talks, also agreed it would be dangerous to conclude a Ukraine ceasefire without a peace agreement at the same time, and that they were ready to provide security guarantees to Ukraine "depending on the level of American support," a European official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

"We agree with President Trump on a 'peace through strength' approach," the official said.

The Paris meeting was called by French President Emmanuel Macron after U.S. President Donald Trump arranged bilateral talks with Russia, excluding European allies and Ukraine from initial negotiations to end the war that are scheduled to begin in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

Macron spoke with Trump ahead of the meetings, officials from both countries said on Monday. A White House official called it "a friendly call" in which they talked about the Paris meeting and the talks in Saudi Arabia.

Trump stunned Ukraine and European allies last week when he announced he had called Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the war without consulting them, and they must now confront the reality of a future with less U.S. protection.

The U.S. decision has sparked a realization among European nations that they will have to do more to ensure Ukraine's security.

Difference on peacekeeping, more defense spending

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who before the meeting said he was willing to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, said on Monday there must be a U.S. security commitment for European countries to put boots on the ground. He said it was too early to say how many British troops he would be willing to deploy.

A peacekeeping force would not only raise the risk of a direct confrontation with Russia, but also stretch European armies, whose arsenals have been depleted by supplying Ukraine and decades of relative peace.

There are also difficult questions about how some European nations, whose public finances are groaning, will pay for such expanded military commitments.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said there could be no peace deal without Ukraine's consent, but said talk of a German peacekeeping mission in Ukraine was "highly inappropriate" without a peace deal in hand.

Both Scholz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk though said stringent European Union (EU) fiscal rules should be loosened to allow more spending on defense without countries falling foul of the EU's deficit rules.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also questioned the peacekeeping plan, according to sources in her office.

"It was useful to discuss today the various hypotheses on the table. The one that foresees the deployment of European soldiers in Ukraine seems to me to be the most complex and perhaps the least effective, and on this too I voiced Italy's doubts," she said, according to the sources.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she was open to discussing troop deployments and that Europe must boost its support for Ukraine while ramping up domestic defense spending.

In an interview on Spanish TV network TVE1, Spain's Second Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz also backed the need for Europe to look after its own defense.

(With input from agencies)