European leaders such as European Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have gathered at the Presidential Palace in Paris to discuss the peace process in Ukraine at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron.
The emergency high-level meeting was called after the United States and Russia excluded the European Union and Great Britain from talks that start on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia.
Part of the discussions is sending peacekeeping troops from NATO countries to Ukraine, an idea strongly supported by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
There are fears that this could lead to the outbreak of an armed conflict between these countries and Russia.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Monday for unity between Europe and the United States on Ukraine's security.
"There should be no division of security and responsibility between Europe and the United States," Scholz told reporters after a European summit in Paris.
"In other words, NATO relies on the fact that we always act together and share the risk, thus guaranteeing our security. This should not be questioned."
Before the meeting, President Macron spoke with his American counterpart Donald Trump, according to a statement from the French president's office.
Details of the conversation between the two leaders have not yet been released.
On Monday morning, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Riyadh, where he will be part of the US delegation, which includes National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkof.
Participating in the Russian delegation, the country's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said before leaving for Riyadh that the EU does not want the war to end, so he saw no reason for them to be part of the talks.
Tuesday's talks are expected to lay the groundwork for a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on Ukraine. Trump himself expressed confidence that the meeting would take place very soon, while saying that Ukraine would also be invited to the peace talks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine will not participate in these peace negotiations and will not recognize their results.
Zelensky opposes participation after Washington proposed that Ukraine abandon the condition of returning to its pre-2014 borders and the ambition of being part of NATO for several years.