“According to him, the issue is being discussed with those countries that want or are able to do so”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
The President of Ukraine noted that today they are discussing the French initiative regarding the placement of the contingent, but it is still too early to talk about the details, in particular, regarding the number.
“We talked about it in sufficient detail with French President Emmanuel Macron. We are talking with Poland, we talked with our Baltic partners. We are discussing with Britain. It is too early to talk about some details today. We are discussing with those countries that either want to do it or are able to do it. That is, sometimes goodwill (of goodwill – ed.) is not enough. Therefore, it is too early to talk about the number today. It depends on what the format of security guarantees for Ukraine will be,” Zelenskyi said.
He added that the deployment of the military contingent of partner countries “can only be a segment of real guarantees for Ukraine,” and security guarantees, according to Zelenskyi, cannot be considered without the United States.
“We have not yet had a substantive conversation about security guarantees with all the details with America by the new administration. It’s all ahead. And only after that we will understand the structure that is desirable for us or understandable for other partners of future security for Ukraine. You know, we cannot lose the general alliance between the United States of America and Europe of support for Ukraine in details. But we cannot really forget what contribution Ukraine makes,” said the President of Ukraine.
As Zelenskyi noted, in 2024, providing Ukraine’s defense forces cost Ukraine 100 billion dollars.
“Of which 40 billion is Ukraine’s contribution. 35 – the United States, Europe – 25. This is approximately the contribution of each of us. That is why we see the strength in this union. And we show what contribution Ukraine makes. Undoubtedly, the highest is people, but you can also see the percentage in relation to money,” Zelenskyy summed up.
On Thursday, the head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak, confirmed on the air of a telethon the existence of negotiations on sending French and British peacekeepers to Ukraine.
“This initiative belongs to French President Emmanuel Macron and I think you saw that a few days ago the Prime Minister of Great Britain met with the French President and they discussed this issue,” he said.
Emmanuel Macron first spoke that European countries could send troops to Ukraine at the end of February 2024, but then this idea did not find support among the partner countries.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in Brussels last month without elaborating that he sees “positive developments” in the discussions regarding the possibility of deploying peacekeeping troops in Ukraine. And on January 13, he said that he spoke with his French colleague Emmanuel Macron and discussed the idea of deploying “partner contingents” in Ukraine.