President of France Emmanuel Macron said that his country, together with the United Kingdom, will send a joint mission to Ukraine to find out what needs to be done to strengthen the Ukrainian Defense Forces.
He said this following a meeting of the "Coalition of the Willing", which was attended by 30 leaders.
According to him, there is currently no consensus on sending a European deterrent force to Ukraine after a full ceasefire is agreed. However, there is agreement that any future security guarantees should be based on three pillars:
- A strong Ukrainian army. To this end, a Franco-British mission will go to Ukraine and find out what can be done to support its troops.
- Support in “strategic” positions. The deterrent forces will not be deployed on the front line, but they will provide assistance to the Ukrainian military in “strategic” areas.
- Rearmament of Europe and demonstration of a European position. This means that European demands must be included in any peace negotiations.
Emmanuel Macron added that the work would continue, and he and Keir Starmer would maintain the momentum of the so-called "Coalition of the Willing".
The French president said Europe must be prepared for any eventuality, even if the US does not support its security initiative. At the same time, he suggested that Trump might change his mind if he sees that Russia is not playing fair and not meeting his expectations.
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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