Europe’s fate was to be decided not in Washington or Moscow. With that America received its worst rebuff since the end of the Second World War from one of the closest members of the Western alliance.

France has announced to extend its nuclear deterrence and cover to its European allies against Russia. This is a French substitution of NATO’s common defence strategy against Russian assault which was live from the end of Second World War.

Asserting this, French president Emmanuel Macron declared his country’s strategic independence and sovereignty, in stark opposition to American assertion of preeminence over other sovereign countries.

This is tantamount to a virtual revolt within the till-now close-knit western security and strategic coalition with America under the umbrella of NATO.

"Our nuclear deterrence protects us, it is complete, sovereign, French from end to end,” Macron said of France’s nuclear arsenal, according to CNN. “Whatever happens, the decision has always remained and will remain in the hands of the President of the Republic, commander of the military.”

Macron revealed that he had already decided to open a strategic discussion on extending deterrence and nuclear protection to countries in Europe. It is France and the United Kingdom which have a stockpile of nuclear arsenal for their defence against aggression from enemy countries, notably Russia.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had earlier called a meeting of European countries in London immediately after the Ukraine President’s disastrous meeting with President Donald Trump.

President Macron had also thrown a challenge to President Trump, vowing to work out a peace plan for the embattled Ukrainians independently of the United States. The plan was to be worked out in a small group consisting of France, the United Kingdom, Germany and other core group countries of Western Europe.

This is in sharp contrast to Trump's bid to reach out to Russia and finalise an agreement to end the Ukraine war without taking any of the European countries on board. US representatives had met with their Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia.

President Trump had also independently announced a minerals deal with Ukraine without consulting the Ukrainians and presented it as a fait accompli.

President Trump’s bid to end the Ukraine war fast, “in a day”, was an election campaign promise, to prove that he was a supreme dealmaker. Now that Trump’s attempts have been put paid to, the French are driving home their diplomatic advantages and assertions of independence.

President Macron is proposing to station European soldiers in Ukraine as a security once peace is established. If anything, the European countries are embracing Ukraine and its embattled President, even more in defiant support to show the US president their resolve to fight against Russian aggression. The French are cutting out America from the peace process and in the diplomatic sphere in Europe.

Even though the French president is seeking to pursue diplomatic initiatives, this would be anything but rough sailing and against heavy odds. The Americans are pursuing their plans to punish President Volodymyr Zelensky for showing independence and temerity to talk back to the Americans as witnessed in the White House.

The American President has cut off all intelligence inputs to the Ukrainians and has denied weapons-supplies to Ukraine. The Americans are showing their capacity for vengeance and severely restricting the ability of the Ukrainians to put up a fight against the Russians.

Meanwhile, Russia is stepping up its aggression against Ukraine and relentlessly battling the Ukrainians with ever more intense missile attacks.

Whatever the end result, the French are on a bold gamble to assert independence and exert control on European affairs. It is like snatching away from the Americans the trust and dependence witnessed since World War-II. (IPA Service)