UK, France propose partial one-month Ukraine truce, Paris says

France and the UK are proposing a partial one-month truce between Russia and Ukraine that would cover air, sea and energy infrastructure attacks but not include ground fighting, French President Emmanuel Macron and his foreign minister said.

The comments came amid a flurry of European diplomacy around Ukraine following Friday's acrimonious meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump – a clash which the Kremlin, which has rejected the idea of Western troops being deployed to Ukraine, said proved how difficult it would be to reach a settlement on the conflict in Ukraine.

"Such a truce on air, sea and energy infrastructure would allow us to determine whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is acting in good faith when he commits to a truce," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said. "And that's when real peace negotiations could start."

Under the proposal, European ground troops would only be deployed to Ukraine in a second phase, Macron said in an interview published in Le Figaro.

"There will be no European troops on Ukrainian soil in the coming weeks," Le Figaro quoted Macron as saying on Sunday as he flew to London for a meeting of European leaders, convened by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to advance efforts at drawing up a Ukraine peace plan.

"The question is how we use this time to try to obtain a truce, with negotiations that will take several weeks and then, once peace is signed, a (troop) deployment," Macron said.

The French president did not elaborate on how air, sea and energy infrastructure could be monitored.

"In my eyes that can only be possible with NATO or at least NATO command and then Patriot systems, long-range missiles and aviation, which Ukraine does not have," said a European diplomat. "And you have to negotiate with Russia so that it doesn't carry out the massive attacks."

Zelenskyy, asked if he was aware of the plan mentioned by Macron, told reporters: "I'm aware of everything."

On Monday, however, UK armed forces minister Luke Pollard declined to confirm the ideas aired by Macron and Barrot, saying: "That's not a plan that we currently recognize."

"Certainly there are a number of different options being discussed privately between the UK, France and our allies at the moment. It's probably not right for me at the moment to comment on each individual option as they occur," Pollard told the BBC.

Starmer said on Sunday that European leaders had agreed to draw up a Ukraine peace plan to present to the United States, without going into details.

European Union leaders will meet for an extraordinary summit on Thursday (March 6) to discuss additional support for Ukraine, European security guarantees and how to pay for European defense needs.

Kremlin cites Western 'fragmentation'

The Kremlin said on Monday that "someone" would have to "force" Zelenskyy to make peace, and that the Oval Office argument showed how hard it would be to find a way to end the war. During the clash, Trump said Zelenskyy risked triggering World War III.

"What happened at the White House on Friday, of course, demonstrated how difficult it will be to reach a settlement trajectory around Ukraine," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "The Kyiv regime and Zelenskyy do not want peace. They want the war to continue."

"It is very important that someone forces Zelenskyy himself to change his position," Peskov said. "Someone has to make Zelenskyy want peace. If the Europeans can do it, they should be honored and praised."

Peskov said Putin was familiar with the "unprecedented event" in the Oval Office, adding that it had demonstrated at the very least Zelenskyy's lack of diplomatic skills, and that European leaders would need to "make a lot of effort" with Washington to wash away the "unpleasant residue" of the confrontation.

Regarding the London summit, Peskov noted the divisions between Europe and the United States.

"We see that... a fragmentation of the collective West has begun," he said. "There remains a group of countries that rather constitutes the party of war, which declares its readiness to further back Ukraine in terms of supporting the war and ensuring the continuation of hostilities."