Regardless of the transatlantic alliance, all countries pledged to deepen European industrial cooperation on areas including munitions, air defense and early warning systems.
Waiting for a ceasefire
All defense ministers stressed that, when it comes to the Ukraine war, the ball is in Putin’s court and that he should accept the truce on the table. In the meantime, a ‘coalition of the willing’ of 15 countries will start preparing for different scenarios, they said.
According to Lecornu, the 15 countries will start planning next week, under the leadership of France and the U.K. He did not, however, elaborate on security guarantees, or list the 15 countries.
“There is a very broad consensus emerging: The first security guarantee for Ukraine is the Ukrainian army, its training, format, capacity and equipment,” he told reporters, pushing back against Russia’s demand for a demilitarization of Ukraine.
Topics to tackle “urgently” include the security in the Black Sea and the safety of nuclear plants, he explained.
A lot more meetings are expected. On Saturday, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host a leader’s summit. Pistorius and the U.K.’s John Healy will co-chair a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels in the next weeks.
E5 ministers will meet again in Italy and the U.K. in the coming months.