Twenty-six nations have pledged to provide postwar security guarantees to Ukraine, which will include an international force on land and sea and in the air, French President Emmanuel Macron said after a summit meeting of Kyiv's allies on Thursday.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff met with European leaders in Paris on Thursday to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine.

The port city of Vladivostok is more than 4,000 miles from Ukraine and from Russia's capital. This is Asia. The border with North Korea is 80 miles from Vladivostok. China is just 35 miles away. Yet the consequences of a distant war in Europe are more than visible.

Twenty-six nations are ready to take part in an international force as part of security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a peace deal with Russia, French President Emmanuel Macron said after a summit meeting of Kyiv's allies on Thursday.

Air raid alerts sounded for hours across Ukraine, with explosions heard in nine of its 24 regions, from Kyiv to Lviv and Volyn in the west, Ukrainian officials and media said.

Now that Putin has shown his card following the summit in Alaska, it’s important for the White House strategy to adapt to this new reality. The aim should be for Ukraine to not only survive the winter months, which it will do, but to emerge stronger and backed by a concrete program for security guarantees when diplomacy resumes.

Some 30 Western leaders were holding talks on Thursday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy over security guarantees for Kyiv in the event of a peace deal with Russia, hoping to do enough to persuade the United States to back their efforts.

Kyiv sees a well-equipped army as a stronger deterrent to Moscow than any Western pledges to defend it. It is working to attract billions to buy more arms.

Twenty-six countries have formally pledged to provide Ukraine with troops as a reassurance force once “a cease-fire or peace can be found,” French President Emmanuel