Paris rallies the "Alliance of the Willing" for security guarantees for Ukraine.. and Washington is under test amid Russian warnings

France and its European partners are seeking to shape a long-term security framework for Ukraine, as everyone awaits the extent of the United States' commitment to support this direction, amid repeated Russian warnings against any security arrangements that ignore its interests.

A consultant at the Élysée Palace stated that the meeting scheduled to be held in Paris on September 4 will be a crucial milestone to confirm that the "Alliance of the Willing" enjoys full American support, explaining that the Europeans have already prepared their proposals for security guarantees for Kyiv after the war.

The meeting, which will be attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky alongside the leaders of France, Britain, and Germany, represents a European attempt to establish an extended security partnership with Ukraine, amid a European conviction that the fate of the war will have direct repercussions on the security of the entire continent.

The alliance includes about 30 countries, according to French President Emmanuel Macron, making it a nucleus for an expanded Western alliance that could symbolically parallel NATO arrangements, although it is less formal.

However, Moscow, for its part, rejects any security formula it sees as directed against it, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated in remarks to NBC News that Ukrainian security guarantees must be achieved through a "consensus that takes into account Russia's fundamental interests," warning that any foreign military presence on Ukrainian territory would be a "red line" for his country.

Thus, it seems that the Paris meeting will serve as a test of Europe's ability to lead a highly sensitive security file, and the extent of Washington's readiness to share the burdens with it, in an equation where Western calculations intersect with Russian objections.