The US President Donald Trump has privately agreed to provide security guarantees for Western troops from the "Coalition of the Willing" if they are deployed in Ukraine.
This is reported by the British newspaper The Telegraph, citing its own sources.
The newspaper writes that American officials have opened the door to providing intelligence and logistical support to British and European soldiers to support the peace deal in Ukraine from land, air and sea. Whether the United States would want to intervene if Western soldiers were attacked by Russia is still an open question.
European leaders acknowledge that Trump will not want to send American troops, but add that US support is essential for the deterrent to work.
Trump has often publicly dismissed calls for security guarantees for Ukraine, saying that Americans who enter Ukraine to gain access to rare minerals will deter Russia from attacking by their mere presence.
However, according to the publication, in private talks in recent weeks, American negotiators have made it clear that they are ready to provide support to Western forces. One type of such support is intelligence sharing. Another is logistical assistance. European planes, ships and ground forces will need supplies and help in analyzing Russian troop movements in and outside Ukraine. British officials emphasize that it is difficult to predict exactly what Trump will approve and when.
Operational negotiations regarding the “Coalition of the Willing” were divided into four conventional segments of military activity: “sky”, “sea”, “land”, and “recovery”.
“Sky” and “sea” imply that European allies will control the airspace over Ukraine and the Black Sea to prevent Russia from violating the peace terms. The third segment, “land,” concerns troops stationed directly on Ukrainian territory. At the same time, the front line with Russia after a possible peace treaty will be held by Ukrainian troops, not Western ones.
The fourth area of the coalitionʼs plans — "recovery" — concerns the long-term support of the Ukrainian army, which is currently considered the most combat-ready in Europe.
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.
French President Emmanuel Macron proposed deploying European peacekeeping forces behind the future demarcation line in Ukraine, rather than directly on it. Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland immediately opposed it. However, Germanyʼs defense minister later said he was open to the idea of sending peacekeepers to Ukraine.
In turn, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that his country was ready to deploy troops to Ukraine and support the peace agreements "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 Michaël 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 Boloyan.
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. This also 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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