Emmanuel Macron gathered more than twenty European leaders in Paris on Monday to discuss military aid for Ukraine and ways to pressure Russia The Guardian. The timing was deliberate: one day before France's Bastille Day holiday Élysée diary.

Macron met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, then held a press conference with Germany's Friedrich Merz and Britain's Keir Starmer. This was the same group that had met in London in December 2025, but with one important difference: Starmer attended as Britain's prime minister about to leave office. NATO's secretary general Mark Rutte also joined Reuters.

These meetings are part of a larger group called the Coalition of the Willing, which has been building since July 2025. That year, members pledged to send at least €40 billion in military equipment to Ukraine Élysée. In January 2026, a Paris summit brought together 35 countries working toward Ukraine's defense Élysée. The group has continued to meet and plan throughout 2026.

Monday's summit in Paris happened at the same time as two other important developments. In Brussels, EU foreign ministers were negotiating the 21st round of economic sanctions against Russia. Kaja Kallas, who leads EU foreign policy, said the package was not yet agreed because there remained "still some open questions" The Guardian. One dispute involved proposals to ban services that help Russia's merchant ships — known as the shadow fleet — and to restrict shipments of Russian natural gas.

At the same time, the EU and France announced sanctions against Russian intelligence officers and hackers. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said France would formally protest to Russia's ambassador over hacking attacks on European governments. The EU sanctioned nine individuals and four organizations linked to Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, which is accused of spying on French government buildings and defence companies, attacking German government networks, and damaging Polish power plants. The affected countries included France, Germany, Poland, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Romania and Finland.

What matters here is that Europe is now tackling Russia across three fronts at once — in Paris with political meetings, in Brussels with new sanctions, and through cyber accusations — rather than focusing on one main strategy. The economic sanctions have become so routine that the 21st package barely makes headlines by itself. What will actually count is whether the rules to stop the shadow fleet survive the disagreements happening right now, since that directly affects how Russia pays for its imports.

Zelenskyy and Macron have been meeting regularly since at least March President of Ukraine. Britain and France together have committed to helping design Ukraine's security future. Britain also signed a separate 100-year partnership agreement with Ukraine. The question now is whether that cooperation continues smoothly when Britain gets a new prime minister, or whether the change in leadership disrupts the partnership.