Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine is a “triple failure for Russia”, President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday (February 24, 2026) to mark the four-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of the Western-backed country.

Hundreds of thousands have died since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, unleashing the deadliest war on European soil since World War II.

“This war is a triple failure for Russia: militarily, economically and strategically,” Mr. Macron said on X.

“One day, Russians will realise the enormity of the crime committed in their name, the futility of the pretexts invoked and the devastating long-term effects on their country.”

Mr. Macron said Ukraine had resisted despite everything. “Four years of lives shattered, of violence, rape, torture, war crimes and terror,” he said. “But four years in which Ukraine has held on and resisted.”

Speaking to his counterparts in the so-called Coalition of the Willing backing Kyiv later Tuesday (February 24, 2026), Macron warned however that he was “sceptical” there would be “short-term peace” for Ukraine.

“It is good to continue these peace talk initiatives,” he said, but added “there is no willingness on the Russian side to achieve peace”.

Earlier, Mr. Macron said that more than 1.2 million Russian soldiers had been wounded or killed. “This is the highest number of Russian combat casualties since the Second World War,” he added.

The war, he added, “has strengthened NATO, whose expansion it sought to prevent, united Europeans whom it wanted to weaken, and laid bare the fragility of an imperialism from another age.”

Mr. Macron pledged continued support for Ukraine and more sanctions against Russia. “So that Ukraine can hold out and so that Russia understands that time is not on its side,” he added. “To those who think they can count on our fatigue: they are mistaken.”

Mr. Macron was to co-chair a new meeting of Ukraine’s allies on Tuesday (February 24, 2026). “Today’s new meeting must allow us to continue moving forward,” he said.

Talks between Russia and Ukraine, relaunched last year by the United States, have so far failed to halt the fighting.

Ukraine’s allies are meeting on Tuesday (January 6, 2026) in Paris for key talks that could help determine the country’s security after a potential ceasefire with Russia. But prospects for progress are uncertain with the Trump administration’s focus shifting to Venezuela.

Before the U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, French President Emmanuel Macron had expressed optimism about the latest gathering of so-called “coalition of the willing” nations. For months, they have been exploring how to deter any future Russian aggression should it agree to stop fighting Ukraine.

In a December 31, 2025, address, Mr. Macron said that allies would “make concrete commitments” at the summit “to protect Ukraine and ensure a just and lasting peace.”

Mr. Macron’s office said Tuesday’s (January 6, 2026) meeting will gather an unprecedented number of officials attending in person, with 35 participants including 27 heads of state and government. The U.S. will be represented by President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

Mr. Macron’s office said the U.S. delegation was initially set to be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who changed his plans for reasons related to the military intervention in Venezuela.

Participants seek concrete outcomes on five key priorities once fighting ends: ways to monitor a ceasefire; support for Ukraine’s armed forces; deployment of a multinational force on land, at sea and in the air; commitments in case there’s another Russian aggression; and long-term defence cooperation with Ukraine.

But whether that’s still achievable Tuesday (January 6, 2026) isn’t so clear now, as Mr. Trump deals with the aftermath of his decision to effect leadership change in Venezuela.

Ukraine seeks firm guarantees from Washington of military and other support seen as crucial to securing similar commitments from other allies. Kyiv has been wary of any ceasefire that it fears could provide time for Russia to regroup and attack again.

Before the U.S. military operation targeting Mr. Maduro, Mr. Witkoff had indicated progress in talks about protecting and reassuring Ukraine.

In a December 31 post, Mr. Witkoff tweeted that “productive” discussions with him, Mr. Rubio, and Mr. Kushner on the U.S. side and, on the other, national security advisers of Britain, France, Germany and Ukraine had focused on “strengthening security guarantees and developing effective deconfliction mechanisms to help end the war and ensure it does not restart.”

France, which with the United Kingdom has coordinated the monthslong, multination effort to shore up a ceasefire, has only given broad-brush details about the plan’s scope. It says Ukraine’s first line of defence against a Russian resumption of war would be the Ukrainian military and that the coalition intends to strengthen it with training, weaponry and other support.

Mr. Macron has also spoken of European forces potentially being deployed away from Ukraine’s front lines to help deter future Russian aggression.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during the weekend that potential European troop deployments still face hurdles, important details remain unfinalised, and “not everyone is ready” to commit forces.

He noted that many countries would need approval from Parliament even if leaders agreed to military support for Ukraine. But he recognised that support could come in forms other than troops, such as “through weapons, technologies and intelligence.”

Mr. Zelenskyy said that post-ceasefire deployments in Ukraine by Britain and France, Western Europe’s only nuclear-armed nations, would be “essential” because some other coalition members ”cannot provide military assistance in the form of troops, but they do provide support through sanctions, financial assistance, humanitarian aid and so on.”

“Speaking frankly as President, even the very existence of the coalition depends on whether certain countries are ready to step up their presence,” Mr. Zelenskyy said. “If they are not ready at all, then it is not really a ‘coalition of the willing.’”