French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting the leaders of nearly 30 countries plus NATO and European Union chiefs. The summit comes at a crucial juncture in the more than three-year war, with intensifying diplomatic efforts to broker ceasefires, driven by pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to end the fighting.

European leaders are trying to carve out a role for themselves in US-led ceasefire talks over Russia’s war in Ukraine as more than 30 of them gather Thursday for an impromptu defense summit in Paris.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine had agreed with U.S. negotiators “that a ceasefire for energy infrastructure can start today.” But, he warned, any strikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities by Moscow would draw “strong retaliation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine expects the United States to react to Russian strikes on Kherson, including on the energy sector. Source: Zelenskyy at a press conference on 27 March Details: Zelenskyy says that "the United States believes that the ceasefire at sea and the ceasefire in the energy sector are effective".

Ukraine expects the US to respond to the massive Russian shelling of Kherson. The enemy damaged energy facilities in the city, says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a press conference and the State Emergency Service.

When the U.S. said it had reached an agreement to eliminate the use of force in the Black Sea, it looked like a breakthrough. Then Russia listed its conditions.