Summit of the Coalition of the Will in Paris to support Ukraine

Thirty-seven countries are meeting on Monday, July 13, at the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris, with Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelensky, to strengthen military aid to Ukraine and increase pressure on Moscow.

The setting is deliberately symbolic. It is at the Hôtel National des Invalides, a major site of French military history, that Emmanuel Macron chose to bring together the leaders of the coalition of volunteers for Ukraine, on the eve of Bastille Day. Thirty-seven countries are represented there at the level of heads of state or government, with Volodymyr Zelensky as the key guest.

The French presidency has set the objective: to increase "support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia." Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot outlined three areas of focus. The first concerns military support for Kyiv, "particularly in terms of air defense" against Russian bombing. The second aims to toughen sanctions against Moscow, with a "21st package of European sanctions to be adopted on Monday." The third concerns "preparing for peace and defining the essential security guarantees to prevent any further aggression."

The discussions will also cover cooperation on ballistic missile defense and the licensed production of weapons in Ukraine. The Multinational Force for Ukraine, intended for deployment there following a potential ceasefire, now has an operational headquarters located near Paris. Exercises will begin outside Ukrainian territory until "the conditions for a real deployment are met," the Élysée Palace stated, emphasizing the need to demonstrate the force's "credibility" in the eyes of Moscow.

The summit takes place against a backdrop of evolving military and diplomatic situations. Donald Trump, long perceived as more favorable to Vladimir Putin than to Zelensky, displayed stronger support for Ukraine at the G7 summit in Évian in June, and then again at the NATO summit in Ankara this week. The Élysée Palace sees it as a "moment of transatlantic convergence and unity."

On the ground, Ukraine is conducting near-daily strikes on Russian oil refineries and depots, causing severe fuel shortages in Russia, and is leading a counter-offensive in Crimea. The Russian army, meanwhile, is making slow progress in the Donbas, at the cost of an estimated 1,000 dead and wounded per day according to Western assessments. The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, however, believes Kyiv is still "far from a turning point in the war."

Russia continues its airstrikes: four people were killed overnight from Saturday to Sunday. In early July, 30 civilians died in missile attacks on Kyiv.

The sequence will continue on Tuesday with the Bastille Day parade on the Champs-Élysées, where some 500 soldiers from coalition member countries will lead the procession. Zelensky will take his place in the presidential stand alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. For Macron, this will be his last participation in the parade as president. On Monday morning, he will deliver a speech to the armed forces focusing on France's "rearmament," whose defense budget is set to double in ten years.