UK and France discuss deployment of peacekeeping forces to Ukraine, The Telegraph reports
Pravda Ukraine
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have been discussing sending UK and French troops to Ukraine as peacekeeping forces following any potential agreement to end the war.
Source: The Telegraph with reference to its sources
Details: The Telegraph noted that Macron supports the idea and has discussed it with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The Telegraph also reported that spokespersons for Downing Street and the Élysée Palace do not deny that Starmer and Macron discussed this possibility during their meeting at Chequers last week.
The details of the conversation are being kept secret by officials in London and Paris. However, multiple senior sources in the UK government emphasised that Starmer has not yet fully considered the proposal.
“There are challenges over what we could support, what would we want to support and the broader question about the threat that those troops may be under and whether that is escalatory,” The Telegraph quoted one Whitehall source.
This proposal arises as European leaders try to determine how to continue supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty, given that US President-elect Donald Trump insists Kyiv must reach a peace agreement with Russia.
The UK government’s public position is that Western allies must provide Zelenskyy with as much support as possible, while Ukrainians should decide when and whether to pursue peace talks.
Privately, ministers and officials suggest that Trump will pressure Ukraine and Russia to come to the negotiating table. Efforts are now ongoing to outline the next steps.
One idea increasingly discussed not only in public debates but also behind closed doors in Westminster is whether Western troops could guarantee any peace agreements.
The discussions revolve around the possibility that Russia could keep the Ukrainian territories it has seized as part of a peace deal, although there is much uncertainty regarding this prospect.
If this happens, European leaders are considering what can be done to ensure the remaining territory of Ukraine is protected from any future Russian attacks.
Previously: French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met at the country residence of the UK prime ministers, with Ukraine being the central topic of their conversation.
In November, it was reported that Starmer and Macron spoke one-on-one for 20 minutes about Ukraine during the UK prime minister’s visit to Paris.
Background:
- At the end of 2024, at Macron’s initiative, talks intensified about the possibility of a potential deployment of a contingent of European allies in Ukraine as a deterrent to a new Russian attack.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged that such an idea had indeed been discussed at pre-Christmas meetings in Brussels and that he had already “seen positive responses” from some leaders.
- Opening a meeting at the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany on 9 January, Zelenskyy said he believed the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine was one of the best tools to force Russia to peace.
Support UP or become our patron!