Emmanuel Macron
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EU Coreper fails to extend Russia sanctions as Slovakia and France push to delist oligarchs
EU ambassadors meeting on 21 September failed to reach consensus on extending the bloc's individual sanctions regime against Russia, which covers roughly 3,000 individuals and entities including Vladimir Putin. Slovakia and France insisted on delisting sanctioned oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman; a compromise deal that would have extended the regime for 36 months in exchange for delisting them collapsed after Latvia blocked it. Coreper scheduled a further meeting for the morning of 22 September, hours before the midnight deadline at which the entire regime would lapse without unanimous renewal. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha publicly called any delisting unacceptable and a wrong signal to Moscow.
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NATO's top general says Alliance ready for possible Russian escalation on eastern flank
Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, Chair of the NATO Military Committee, said on 19 September in Copenhagen that NATO is prepared to respond to a possible Russian escalation on the Alliance's eastern flank. His remarks came at a meeting of NATO's 32 top military chiefs, against a backdrop of warnings from several European countries about Russian hybrid threats and a recent spike in airspace violations and sabotage attempts.
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Le Pen says France can no longer provide Ukraine with the same level of financial aid
Marine Le Pen, informal leader of France's far-right National Rally party, said in an LCI interview reported by Le Figaro that France can no longer afford to provide Ukraine with the same level of financial assistance due to the country's deteriorating financial situation. She insisted the position "is not an act of hostility toward Ukraine" and said France can continue to train Ukrainian soldiers and supply equipment for self-defence.
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US envoys visit Kyiv for first time, signal return to trilateral talks but report no breakthrough
US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner travelled to Kyiv on 6 September 2026 for their first visit to Ukraine since Donald Trump's second presidential term began, after meeting Vladimir Putin in Moscow on 5 September. They held three rounds of talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky, joined in the second round by national security advisers from France, Germany and the United Kingdom, and announced a planned return to the US–Ukraine–Russia trilateral format and US support for a 'winter package' of assistance for Ukraine. Zelensky reported receiving a message that 'the Russians are ready to negotiate' but remained sceptical, while the Kremlin, Bloomberg sources and the Institute for the Study of War said the Moscow talks produced no substantive concessions.
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Burnham and Macron discuss local SCALP missile production in Ukraine
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham and French President Emmanuel Macron met at Downing Street to discuss creating local assembly lines in Ukraine for long-range SCALP missiles. The leaders also reviewed the results of the recent "coalition of the willing" meeting held in Kyiv the previous week, and Burnham reaffirmed UK military aid of €3.5 billion annually for as long as needed.