French President Emmanuel Macron, at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, outlined his vision for a European deterrent force in Ukraine. This vision was set out in a Franco-British plan that will be given to all countries participating in the discussion of the European contingent in Ukraine.
Babel has collected the main theses.
France wants a stable and lasting peace in Ukraine.
This issue includes the settlement of the territories — the front line and the occupied territories. First of all, a ceasefire should be achieved, and then a mechanism should be launched that will guarantee compliance with such an agreement.
European contingent or UN.
This could be either a UN peacekeeping mission with an appropriate mandate, or a European deterrent force — a contingent. However, President Zelensky previously emphasized that Ukraine does not see UN peacekeepers as an alternative to a European military contingent or security guarantees.
Monitoring.
The European contingent can monitor the ceasefire, but will not be on the first line of defense. European military personnel from those countries that agree to participate will be in strategic locations, will have strategic bases. They can also train Ukrainian soldiers, as well as deal with logistics.
In case if Russia wants to attack again.
In this case, Russiaʼs attack will be not only on the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but also on European forces. The latter in this case will act on the orders of the general staffs of their countries.
Strengthening the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Europeʼs top priority now is to make the Ukrainian army, the largest army in Europe, as strong as possible so that it can be the greatest deterrent to Russia from future attacks.
Peacekeeping troops in Ukraine
After the US and Russia negotiated to end the war in Ukraine without the participation of Europe and Kyiv, an emergency meeting of EU leaders was called in France. One of the key issues was the sending of troops to Ukraine to monitor the ceasefire. This was the main argument of the evening.
«Babel'»
French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed deploying a European peacekeeping force behind the future demarcation line in Ukraine, rather than directly on it. Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland immediately opposed the idea. In return, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his country was ready to deploy troops to Ukraine and support the peace agreement with “boots on the ground and planes in the sky”.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Swiss Armed Forces Thomas Süssli said he could send troops for a future peacekeeping mission in Ukraine if requested and the government is not against it. Irish Prime Minister Michał Martin said his country was also ready to send peacekeepers to Ukraine for post-war security. Denmark is also ready for this, as is Australia, as noted by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever believes it would be logical for Brussels to send troops to Ukraine. Sweden does not rule out such a possibility, as does the Czech Republic.
Meanwhile, the Bulgarian parliament has adopted a declaration that the Bulgarian Armed Forces will not participate in hostilities in Ukraine. And in Romania, they have admitted that they could become a transit center for troops for Western peacekeeping forces in Ukraine, although the parliament does not support this position of interim President Iliye Bologyan.
Bloomberg, citing sources, writes that Turkey could deploy its peacekeeping forces in Ukraine, but will not do so unless it is involved in all consultations and preparations for the formation of the peacekeeping mission.
- Volodymyr Zelensky stated at a briefing on March 19 that the US position affects the position of European countries on the issue of sending peacekeepers to Ukraine. If the US joins the process, the number of countries that will be ready to send their contingent to Ukraine may increase. In addition, this affects the quantitative composition of the contingent of a particular country. Discussions are ongoing, so the president did not name the exact number of potential peacekeeping troops.
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