In rare meeting without U.S. ally, Western army chiefs meet to show Ukraine unity

By Elizabeth Pineau and John Irish

PARIS/QUEBEC (Reuters) - More than 30 army chiefs among Washington's closest allies met in Paris on Tuesday without their U.S. counterparts, seeking to take on more responsibility over the Ukraine war given President Donald Trump's unpredictability and rapprochement with Moscow.

The closed-door gathering of 34 army chiefs, including NATO alliance and EU members as well as Japan and Australia, was a rare - and possibly unprecedented - convening without the U.S.

The talks aimed in part to assess options and capabilities to guarantee Ukraine's security in the event of a ceasefire, including potential European peacekeepers, and to maintain Kyiv's long-term military strength.

"The political message is we can do it together and without the United States, but it's clear there are things we can't do and the problem with Russia is we need to have deterrence," said a European diplomat involved in the talks, adding that the meeting was largely pre-planning.

A military official said the U.S. was not invited, in an intended signal that Europe and other partners could take their responsibilities given Trump has distanced himself from allies.

Officials said the presence of countries like Japan and Australia, both of whom have also faced uncertainty from the new U.S. administration, showed a deeper malaise among Washington's traditional allies.

NO DEMILITARISATION OF UKRAINE

Trump has been exerting huge pressure on Ukraine to agree to peace. He has endorsed, even before talks, many of Russia's demands, such as denying Ukraine NATO membership.

Ahead of the talks, French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu stressed how important a strong Ukrainian army was to security guarantees.

Demilitarisation is one of the few Russian demands that Trump has not pressed Ukraine on, a senior European official said, adding that Europe wanted to keep it that way.

"The priority is to think about what the Ukrainian army should be like in the future, based on the principle that the first security guarantee remains the Ukrainian army," Lecornu told a security conference in Paris.

"We will refuse any form of demilitarisation of Ukraine," Lecornu said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said he wants Ukraine to be demilitarised but Kyiv says that would expose it to further attacks.

(Additional reporting by Dominique Vidalon and Charlotte Van Campenhout; Writing by Ingrid Melander and John Irish; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)