Taoiseach Micheál Martin attends meeting of the Coalition of the Willing in support of Ukraine
- Published on: 25 November 2025
- Last updated on: 25 November 2025
Taoiseach Micheál Martin participated in a meeting today (Tuesday) of the Coalition of the Willing in support of Ukraine.
The video meeting was co-chaired by British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, President of France, Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz and was joined also by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The meeting was part of the recent intense coordination, including the meeting of like-minded leaders in the margins of the G20 Summit in Johannesburg and the informal meeting of the European Council at the EU-African Union Summit in Angola, both of which were attended by the Taoiseach.
Speaking after today’s meeting, the Taoiseach said:
"This is a critical time for Ukraine, for its future security and for European security.
"Today’s meeting was an opportunity to hear from President Zelenskyy on progress in talks between Ukraine and the US in Geneva yesterday, and on how we in the Coalition of the Willing can best support Ukraine to ensure a positive outcome in any negotiations.
"I have always been clear that it is for the people and Government of Ukraine to determine their future and to agree to the terms of any peace agreement. Leaders at today’s meeting offered their full and unequivocal support to President Zelenskyy and Ukraine. We will continue to stand with him and with Ukraine as it faces into a difficult winter.
"We want to see an immediate end to this brutal war, which is being illegally prosecuted by Russia. We want to see a just and lasting peace for Ukraine, that respects the principles of the UN Charter, and that guarantees Ukraine’s security into the future.
"Any outcome will also have significant implications for Europe, so it is important that the EU and other European actors are involved in shaping it. As we have said previously, nothing about Europe, without Europe.
"Ireland has long advocated strongly in favour of accelerating Ukraine’s journey towards EU membership and I believe that moving forward in the negotiations is something that we in the EU need to do now.
"We also need to increase pressure on Russia. I hope that it will be possible to move forward on the difficult issue of mobilising frozen Russian assets in support of Ukraine when the European Council meets in December."
ENDS