When European leaders meet for a summit addressing Ukraine on Thursday, it won't be the first time they've recently gathered to discuss European defense and support for Kyiv.

French President Emmanuel Macron hosted two groups of top politicians, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a security summit on Sunday following a contentious meeting in the Oval Office between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his US counterpart Donald Trump.

For London and Paris, brokering a peace agreement is top priority, particularly since Trump's announcement late Monday that the US would stop military aid for Ukraine. 

Macron has already hinted at further details. For example, he told French daily Le Figaro, one step toward a possible truce could be a one-month ceasefire "in the air, at sea and in the area of energy infrastructure."

Paris and London intend to work on the peace plan together with one or two other states, Starmer announced Sunday. The detailed plan would then be presented to the United States.

Starmer is banking on a "coalition of the willing" to secure a possible peace plan militarily. Some states already declared themselves ready to participate.

While it is not yet clear which countries would take part and in what capacity, some initial indications are trickling in.

The willing countries

Some two weeks ago, Starmer indicated that he was prepared to secure a possible peace agreement with British troops.

France has also shown itself open to the peacekeeping deployment of troops to Ukraine.

Both countries insist that such a deployment must be backed by the United States.

In the past, the Netherlands and Sweden have also shown themselves to be open to participating in the deployment of troops.

However, according to the German press agency dpa, Macron has clarified that European soldiers would only be deployed in the event of a stable ceasefire — not during the initial truce.

The ambivalent countries

Following an earlier summit in Paris, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed his opposition to the deployment of troops as long as the conflict was ongoing.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also said in Paris that she was open to the idea in principle but a number of details needed to be clarified in advance.

Current German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his "irritation" when the discussion arose and emphasized that he thought it was premature to discuss which nations would enforce a ceasefire before Russia and Ukraine even met to negotiate the terms of a truce.

Friedrich Merz, probably Germany's next chancellor, expressed a similar view.

So far, however, neither Scholz nor Merz has ruled out the deployment of the German armed forces in Ukraine. 

The unwilling countries

On Tuesday, Italan Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in an interview with Rai 1 Secolo TV, "We will not send Italian soldiers to Ukraine."

Meloni also questioned the effectiveness of the proposal by France and the UK.

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico explained that the issue of troops was one where the EU should not interfere. Instead, he said he sees the matter as one for the United Nations. 

While Poland is generally regarded as a strong supporter of Ukraine, Warsaw has said it any aid it offers would not include boots on the ground.

"We have no plans to send Polish troops to Ukraine, but we will provide logistical and political support to those countries that want it," said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk when the discussion first gained momentum.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban did not directly refer to the idea of troops but wrote on X that the European leadership had decided to continue with war instead of opting for peace.

This was "bad, dangerous and mistaken," he stated on Sunday.

Hungary, which has maintained close relations to Russia, has rejected military aid for Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion and has complicated support for Ukraine at the EU level.

The Hungarian prime minister has already announced further blockades for an upcoming EU summit this Thursday in a letter to Council President Antonio Costa.

This article was originally published in German.