Germany's likely next chancellor, a conservative, Friedrich Merz warned Europe should seek "independence" from the US as it grapples with the Trump administration's lack of support for Ukraine. France's Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron made very clear he believes Putin was "the aggressor" in Ukraine.

The Munich Security Conference may be over for another year, but the reverberations of the past few days are ricocheting across Europe as Ukraine faces a defining moment. The latest: French President Emmanuel Macron will host European leaders in Paris today for crisis talks as they scramble to respond to the fast-moving events of recent days.

Algerian writer Boualem Sansal delivers his speech after receiving the Peace Prize of German book seller's association "Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels" during a ceremony in Frankfurt October 16,

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, greets Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz as he arrives for an informal meeting of leaders from key European Union nations and the United Kingdom at the

Vance’s shocking words — and the prospects of American disengagement — were so traumatic, they prompted French President Emmanuel Macron to cobble together an emergency summit of European leaders, where the participants promptly agreed on nothing .

French President Emmanuel Macron has said he is ready to start discussions for nuclear deterrence for Europe in response to the threat posed by Moscow. Macron told the newspaper Le Monde he was ready for talks about nuclear weapons for the continent following a request from the likely German chancellor,

Friedrich Merz, Germany's likely next head of government, is already trying to shape foreign policy. He is especially concerned about Germany's ailing relationships with France and Poland.

Trump's rhetoric at the time sparked a major debate over the future of European security. Macron, who also took office in 2017, began to propose the formation of a "true European army" as an alternative to NATO and famously warned of the "brain death" of the alliance in 2019.

The winner of Germany's parliamentary elections has travelled to Paris to meet the French president for a working dinner on Wednesday. View on euronews

Moscow, not Kyiv, is the aggressor in the ongoing war, emphasised Emmanuel Macron on Friday. The President of France also directly referenced Donald Trump's remarks about "gambling with world war three.