France, Dec. 17 -- France has drawn a red line in the latest push to end Russia's war in Ukraine, saying there can be no discussion of Kyiv ceding territory until "robust security guarantees" are firmly in place.

That's how President Emmanuel Macron's team framed two days of intensive talks in Berlin, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met United States envoys and European leaders to try to reshape a US-brokered peace plan that many in Europe saw as too generous to Moscow.

"We want robust security guarantees first before any discussions on territory," a senior adviser to Macron said, underlining Paris's view that Ukraine must be protected against any future Russian aggression before being asked to make political concessions. ...