Emmanuel Macron has said Russia is reinterpreting what was agreed in the Black Sea ceasefire talks – as he met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Elysee Palace in Paris.

Ukraine and Russia agreed to a tentative ceasefire brokered by the US involving the Black Sea and strikes on energy infrastructure on Tuesday.

But drone strikes were reported just hours after the US reached the deals separately with each country, with the mayor of the Ukrainian port city Mykolaiv saying there were emergency power outages after reports seven drones were downed over the region.

“I note today Russia is always tempted to reinterpret what we discuss and agree,” the French president said on Wednesday.

“While saying it wants peace, Russia continues to strike intensely the Ukrainian territory, including civilian targets. These strikes – we condemn them.”

Secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that the US will evaluate demands made by Russia after Moscow agreed “in principle” to the ceasefire.

Russia also accused Ukraine of targeting energy infrastructure in Crimea, Kursk and Bryansk but this has not been independently verified. Ukraine denied the claims.

Meanwhile, Russia launched its largest drone attack yet on Mr Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih, according to the city’s military administration chief.

Macron announces further military support

As Mr Macron announced an additional $2bn of military support for Ukraine, he added that Russia cannot dictate the conditions for a lasting peace in Ukraine.

When questioned on whether sanctions on Russia should be lifted, Mr Macron said it is “much too early”.

The French president also said that a proposed European armed force for possible deployment in Ukraine in tandem with an eventual peace deal could “respond” to a Russian attack if Moscow launched one.

At a news conference after the meeting of the two leaders, Mr Zelenskyy said that he expects the US will be able to ensure Vladimir Putin accepts a ceasefire.

“We believe America will be strong enough to lead Putin to accept an unconditional ceasefire,” he said.

Read more:
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President Zelenskyy’s trip to Paris comes ahead of a summit of European leaders on Ukraine and security on Thursday.

The so-called “coalition of the willing” nations that are allies of Ukraine will discuss options for a peacekeeping solution for the country after the war ends, with France and Britain leading efforts.

Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff said on Wednesday that US-Ukraine ties were “back on track”.

In an interview with Reuters news agency, Andriy Yermak said two rounds of talks in Saudi Arabia gave Kyiv the chance to show US officials it is open to working with Donald Trump to end the war.

“I think we have great conversations with the Americans. I think we are back on track,” he said.

Relations appeared to hit a new low last month following a disastrous meeting between Mr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump at the White House.

Ukraine and Russia have agreed to a tentative ceasefire involving the Black Sea and strikes on energy infrastructure.

It comes after US officials met Russian and Ukrainian delegations separately in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The agreement could be a first step towards a potential wider ceasefire, but experts caution it won’t change much on the ground in Ukraine.

War latest: Ukraine and Russia appear to disagree on ceasefire timing

Defence minister Rustem Umerov said Ukraine had agreed to “ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes”.

However, Russia claimed it depended on Western sanctions being lifted on fertiliser and food companies and ensuring its access to the SWIFT payments system.

President Zelenskyy said he believed the truce was effective immediately and accused Moscow of playing games.

“Unfortunately, even now, even today, on the very day of negotiations, we see how the Russians have already begun to manipulate,” he said.

“They are already trying to distort agreements and, in fact, deceive both our intermediaries and the entire world.”

A White House statement said the US would help “restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertiliser exports”.

President Trump said his administration was “looking into” Russia’s request to lift sanctions.

A senior official in the Ukrainian government, speaking anonymously to the AP news agency, said Kyiv did not agree to lifting sanctions as a condition for a maritime ceasefire.

They said Russia had done nothing to have sanctions reversed.

While uncertainty remains over the terms of the Black Sea truce, the Kremlin confirmed it would honour a ceasefire on attacking energy facilities until 17 April.

It said oil refineries, pipelines, power plants and substations, nuclear power plants and hydroelectric dams were all covered by the deal.

It added: “In the event of a violation of the moratorium by one of the parties, the other party has the right to consider itself free from obligations to comply with it.”

Sky News security analyst Michael Clarke said the Black Sea deal was something the US “can boast about” but won’t massively change anything on the ground in Ukraine.

“The Russians will be quite happy about that because they’ll just keep going down more and more rabbit holes,” he said.

“Unless the Americans are prepared to pressure Russia as opposed to just keeping offering them more advantages, the war will just go on,” added Professor Clarke.

Read more:
Moments that shaped Trump-Zelenskyy relationship
Ukraine war Q&A

Earlier in March, President Zelenskyy said he was ready for a 30-day ceasefire that would also include “the entire front line”.

American secretary of state Marco Rubio said the ball was “in Russia’s court” but President Putin has declined to follow suit and named multiple pre-conditions.

Speaking to Mr Trump on the phone last week, he said any long-term deal would require a complete halt to intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine.

Donald Trump has been urged to fire US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth following the leak of highly sensitive war plans – as national security adviser Mike Waltz said he took “full responsibility” for organising the group chat.

The conversation on the messaging app Signal between US officials, including vice president JD Vance and Mr Hegseth, was leaked to American journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, who was added to the chat in error.

They discussed plans to conduct airstrikes on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, which took place on 15 March.

Latest: White House deflecting from scandal

Mr Waltz – who had mistakenly added Mr Goldberg to the Signal discussion – said: “I take full responsibility…I built the group.”

Democratic congressman Hakeem Jeffries, minority leader of the US House of Representatives, described Mr Hegseth as “the most unqualified Secretary of Defence in American history” and called for him to be sacked.

“His continued presence in the top position of leadership at the Pentagon threatens the nation’s security and puts our brave men and women in uniform throughout the world in danger,” he wrote.

“His behaviour shocks the conscience, risked American lives and likely violated the law.

“Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth should be fired immediately.”

Speaking from the White House, Mr Trump downplayed the incident and said he believed the chat contained “no classified information”.

“They were using an app, as I understand it, that a lot of people in government use, a lot of people in the media use,” he told reporters.

Trump expressed support for Mr Waltz, telling NBC News his national security adviser “has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man”.

The US president said officials would “probably” not use Signal any longer but did not agree to a full investigation of what Democrats have called a major security breach which required high-level resignations.

Included in the conversation on Signal were Mr Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Mr Hegseth.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA director John Ratcliffe – who were both also in the chat – testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that no classified material was shared.

But Democratic senators have voiced scepticism, noting that the journalist, The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, reported Mr Hegseth posted operational details “including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing”.

Republican majority leader, John Thune, said on Tuesday he expected the Senate Armed Services Committee to look into Trump administration officials’ use of Signal.

Read more from Sky News:
UK still confident over US intelligence sharing
What was said in Trump officials’ group chat
What is Signal? And is it really secure?

Meanwhile, the White House has mostly attacked the journalist responsible for the original story instead of admitting culpability. The integrity of Mr Goldberg has been repeatedly called into question.

Posting on X, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused Mr Goldberg of sensationalising the story, and White House communications director Steven Cheung called the media coverage of the security breach a “witch hunt”.

Group chat gaffe wouldn’t happen in UK

Deborah Haynes

Security and Defence Editor

@haynesdeborah

If a British defence minister was found to have shared details about a live military operation in an unofficial messaging group with colleagues, they would be sacked.

That President Donald Trump has tried to dismiss the revelation that his top defence and security team not only did just that but accidentally included a journalist in the chat will be watched with deepening horror by US allies and growing glee by American enemies.

In public, the UK government is still insisting security ties with the US are as strong as ever.

But in private there will doubtless be horror – though perhaps not surprise – within Whitehall at this extraordinary lapse in the most basic operational security by the president’s national security adviser, defence secretary, national intelligence chief and even the boss of the CIA.

Any information about plans to – for example – launch bombing raids against Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen would ordinarily only be shared on specially designated government systems that ensure classified information is secure.

The fact that Mike Waltz, the national security adviser, felt it was acceptable to set up a group on the commercial messaging app Signal – which does provide encryption but is only as secure as the device that it is being used on (so not secure at all if a mobile phone or laptop is compromised) – to discuss plans to attack the Houthis is bad enough.

Read more from Deborah here

The Atlantic has hit back, dismissing those claims. “Attempts to disparage and discredit The Atlantic, our editor, and our reporting follow an obvious playbook by elected officials and others in power who are hostile to journalists and the First Amendment rights of all Americans,” it said in a statement.

Mr Hegseth told reporters on Monday no one had texted war plans – prompting Mr Goldberg to call those comments a lie during an interview on CNN.

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It remains unclear why the officials chose to chat via Signal instead of secure government channels typically used for sensitive discussions.

The Pentagon reportedly warned of a known vulnerability on the Signal chat app, in an email sent out prior to the publication of The Atlantic article, according to reports by Sky News’ US partner network NBC News.

The email reported: “Russia-aligned threat groups are actively targeting the Signal Messenger application of individuals likely to exchange sensitive military and government communications related to the war in Ukraine”.

Employees were told the vulnerability could be mitigated by updating to the latest version of the app and applying proper settings.