PARIS: France has said that Europe is ready to stand by Ukraine with long-term security guarantees once the war ends — but it now wants the United States to step up and do its part. 

President Emmanuel Macron’s office said on Tuesday that Kyiv’s European allies are prepared to contribute to security guarantees for Ukraine after any peace deal with Russia.

Ahead of a meeting between Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and allies in Paris on Thursday, an Elysee Palace official said, “We are ready,” adding that Europeans now hope to secure “the support of the Americans to guarantee Ukraine’s security.”

A so-called Coalition of the Willing, made up of around 30 countries, intends to support Ukraine’s military and could potentially deploy some of its own soldiers once a ceasefire is reached. The aim of any deployment would be to deter future Russian aggression.

According to a French diplomatic source, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and his US counterpart Marco Rubio, in a telephone call on Tuesday, “stressed the good existing cooperation in the Coalition of the Willing” ahead of Thursday’s meeting.

A US State Department spokesman said the two ministers “agreed to continue cooperation in diplomatic efforts to bring the Russia-Ukraine war to an end through a negotiated settlement with measures in place to secure a lasting peace.”

Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will jointly chair Thursday’s meeting.

An Elysee official said: “We now have enough contributions to be able to say to the Americans that we are ready to take our responsibilities as long as they take on theirs — meaning giving European partners a ‘backstop’.”

That backstop could involve several areas, including intelligence, logistical support, and communications. But US President Donald Trump has ruled out any American troops on the ground.

Trump has so far failed in his attempt to organise a summit between President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky, after hosting the Russian leader in Alaska last month.

On Tuesday, Trump said he was “very disappointed” in Putin for not moving towards a peace deal on Ukraine.

The United States will send a representative to Thursday’s meeting, Macron’s office confirmed, without giving details.

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was “very disappointed” in Russian President Vladimir Putin and added without elaborating that his administration was planning to take some actions to bring down deaths in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The Republican leader also said he was not concerned about warm ties between Russia and China.

Trump held a summit with Putin in Alaska in mid-August and subsequently met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and key European and NATO alliance leaders at the White House.

Following those meetings, Trump said he expected Zelensky and Putin to hold a bilateral meeting before a trilateral meeting that would also include Trump. Zelensky has said Russia was doing everything it could to prevent a meeting between him and Putin, while Russia says the agenda for such a meeting was not ready.

“I am very disappointed in President Putin, I can say that, and we will be doing something to help people live,” Trump said in an interview on The Scott Jennings Radio Show.

Trump has told Zelensky that Washington would help guarantee Ukraine’s security in any deal. Trump has also renewed a threat to impose further sanctions on Russia if there is no progress toward a peaceful settlement in Ukraine.

Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine, and Trump has said “land-swapping” and changes to territory will be crucial for any settlement.

Ukraine opposes the idea of legally recognising any Ukrainian territory as Russian. But it has tacitly acknowledged it will almost certainly have to accept some de facto territorial losses.

Trump was also asked in the interview if he was concerned “about an axis forming against the United States with China and Russia.”

Trump said, “I am not concerned at all.” He added, “We have the strongest military in the world, by far. They would never use their military on us. Believe me.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Putin for talks in China, calling him his “old friend.”

Xi also held talks on Monday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose country has been targeted by Trump over its purchases of Russian oil.

The death toll in the earthquake in Afghanistan, the worst in the region in years, has surged to 1,411, the Taliban administration’s spokesperson said on Tuesday.

At least 3,251 people have been injured and more than 8,000 houses have been destroyed in the disaster, the group said.

Rescuers will try to reach isolated villages in the eastern region of Kunar, the epicentre of an earthquake, one of the deadliest seismic activity nation has witnessed.

Rescue operations were carried out in four villages in Kunar after the quake struck and efforts will now be focused on reaching more remote mountain areas, said Ehsanullah Ehsan, the provincial head of disaster management.

“We cannot accurately predict how many bodies might still be trapped under the rubble,” said Ehsan. “Our effort is to complete these operations as soon as possible and to begin distributing aid to the affected families.”

One of Afghanistan’s worst earthquakes, with a magnitude of 6, struck around midnight local time on Monday, at a shallow depth of 10 km (6 miles), killing 812 people in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar.

Mountainous terrain and inclement weather have hindered rescuers reaching remote areas along the Pakistani border where the quake flattened mudbrick homes.

Gaining access for vehicles on the narrow mountain roads was the main obstacle for relief work, said Ehsan, adding machinery was being brought in to clear roads of debris.

A line of ambulances was on the damaged mountain road trying to reach Kunar villages, as helicopters flew in, bringing aid supplies and taking the injured to hospitals, according to a Reuters witness.

Some of those injured have been transferred to hospitals in Kabul and the adjacent province of Nangarhar, said Ehsan.

Taliban soldiers were deployed in the area, providing help and security. The disaster has further stretched the war-torn nation’s Taliban administration, already grappling with a sharp drop in foreign aid and deportations of hundreds of thousands of Afghans by neighbouring countries.

“National and international organisations are present in the area, have organised their assistance, and, God willing, aid will be distributed in an orderly manner,” said Ehsan.

Rescue teams and authorities are trying to dispose of animal carcasses quickly so as to minimise the risk of contamination to water resources, a UN official said on Monday.

“Damaged roads, ongoing aftershocks, and remote locations of many villages severely impede the delivery of aid,” the World Health Organisation said in a situation update, adding that over 12,000 people had been affected by the quake.

“The pre-earthquake fragility of the health system means local capacity is overwhelmed, creating total dependence on external actors,” said the update.

Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake that killed 1,000 people in the eastern region in 2022 was the first major natural disaster faced by the Taliban government.