Warsaw, Poland

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Warsaw on Thursday to discuss boosting support for Ukraine, against the backdrop of the possibility of peace talks to end Russia's war.

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Poland has been a staunch backer of neighbouring Ukraine since Russia's invasion in February 2022 and serves as a crucial logistics hub for Western military aid to Kyiv.

The EU and NATO member has been discussing Ukraine with various foreign officials as it gears up to take over the rotating presidency of the European Union next month.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday that peace talks on ending the Ukraine war could begin "in the winter of this year".

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"Our (EU) presidency will notably be co-responsible for what the political landscape will look like, perhaps how the situation will look during (peace) negotiations," he said.

Macron's office said he and Tusk would talk about "European support to Ukraine in a new trans-Atlantic context" ahead of Poland's EU presidency.

- Security guarantees -

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US President-elect Donald Trump has said solving the Ukraine crisis would be his top priority once he assumes office next month.

Last Saturday, he met with Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a visit to France, his first international trip since his re-election.

Trump later wrote on his Truth Social platform that "there should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin". 

On Tuesday, Zelensky said he was grateful for Trump's "strong resolve" to end the war in Ukraine.

He had earlier said that Ukraine needs "effective guarantees for peace" and has pushed for NATO membership.

"A ceasefire without guarantees can be reignited at any moment, as (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has already done before," he said. 

- Western troops in Ukraine? -

Several media outlets have reported that Macron and Tusk could also discuss sending a European peacekeeping mission to Ukraine.

Paris has not confirmed the reports.

A diplomatic source said on condition of anonymity that "they will talk about security guarantees and what comes after, namely what tomorrow may look like, on the conditions that the Ukrainians will have set". 

Defence expert Elie Tenenbaum told AFP that "France and Britain on the one hand, and then the Poles, the Baltics, the Scandinavian countries... and maybe other allies" could participate in such a plan.

Tenenbaum, an expert at the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI), estimated the potential number of troops at 40,000 soldiers.

Macron had already floated the idea of Western troops in Ukraine in February.

"Frankly, we can think and work on Emmanuel (Macron)'s position," Zelensky said in Kyiv on Monday.

"He proposed that some troops of some state should be present on the territory of Ukraine to guarantee our security while Ukraine is not in NATO," he added.

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