French President Emmanuel Macron said today that not all European allies agree with the proposed deployment of military forces in Ukraine to support a possible peace deal and that only some want to participate.
"There is no unity," Macron said after the summit on strengthening the positions of Kiev and the Ukrainian army ahead of a ceasefire in the war with Moscow.
Macron said that France and Britain, which are the initiators of the initiative, will continue to provide assistance along with several other countries.
The summit, which hosted leaders from nearly 30 countries, plus the heads of NATO and the EU, comes at a crucial moment in the three-year war, with diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire intensifying, under pressure from US President Donald Trump.
This week's US-brokered agreements to protect shipping in the Black Sea and last week's to halt attacks on energy infrastructure were hailed as a first step toward peace. But Ukraine and Russia have disagreed on the details and accused each other of violating the agreements.
France and the United Kingdom have launched a separate initiative to deploy European armed forces in Ukraine, with the aim of securing a peace agreement by deterring Russia from attacking the country again.
Some European countries are more willing than others to send troops, not least because it is a big unknown whether Trump would allow US forces and intelligence agencies to support any European contingent with aviation and logistical support and other assistance.
The long-standing problem is assembling a force large enough to act as a credible deterrent. British officials have spoken of a possible 10.000 to 30.000 troops, a significant effort for countries that downsized their militaries after the Cold War but are now rearming.
There are also questions to be resolved about who will command the force and how it might respond to a major Russian violation of the peace agreement. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a picture of himself and other leaders at the summit, captioned: “Europe knows how to defend itself. We must prove it.” Macron said on Wednesday that the proposed European force could be deployed in “important cities, strategic bases” in Ukraine and could “respond” to a Russian attack if Moscow launches one. Macron did not specify what kind of response he envisions. But he suggested that a Russian attack might not go unanswered, although European troops would not be deployed on the front lines.
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