Europe Weighs Peacekeeping Role in Ukraine Amid Trump’s Embrace of Russia

With anger in Europe mounting over President Trump’s perceived abandonment of the continent, President Emmanuel Macron of France gathered the chiefs of staff of more than 30 armed forces on Tuesday to review the formation of a multinational peacekeeping force to monitor any cease-fire in Ukraine.

A brief statement from the French presidency at the end of meeting said the chiefs of staff reached an agreement that any force dispatched to Ukraine must be credible and conceived for a long-term commitment, must give unfailing support to the Ukrainian army and should not be disconnected from NATO and its “capacities.”

Mr. Macron said “it was the moment for Europe to exert its full weight, for Ukraine and for itself.”

The countries represented at the meeting, convened in partnership with Britain, were mainly European but included Japan, Canada, Turkey and New Zealand. The broad attendance reflected a widespread dismay at Mr. Trump’s “pause” in American military aid to Ukraine and his embrace of the views of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Soon after the meeting, the United States said it would lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume military assistance to Ukraine.

“I think the moment is important and your presence here sends out a real signal,” Gen. Thierry Burkhard, France’s military chief of staff, told the gathered officials at the start of the meeting, according to footage released by the French military

There is near unanimity in Europe that Ukraine is its front line against Moscow and that the defense of Ukraine equals the defense of the continent. There has been a sea change. A Europe that was long content to enjoy a post-Cold War peace dividend is now in a bristling mood of rearmament.