Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Paris to bolster support for Kyiv, as Ukrainian and European defence chiefs gathered in Brussels for talks centred around Ukrainian and collective security.

The meetings came on Monday amid a diplomatic flurry of activity to end Russia’s almost four-year-old war in Ukraine.

Before the meeting, Macron’s office said the two presidents would discuss the conditions necessary for a “fair and lasting peace”.

Speaking to La Tribune Dimanche newspaper on Sunday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the meeting aimed “to move the negotiations forward”.

“Peace is within reach, if [Russian President] Vladimir Putin abandons his delusional hope of reconstituting the Soviet empire by first subjugating

See Full Page