British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the possibility of sending British and French “peace troops” to Ukraine after a future agreement to end the war, according to a report by The Telegraph on Wednesday.
Macron, a key proponent of this idea, has already discussed it with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The press services in Downing Street and the Élysée Palace did not deny that this plan was discussed during the meeting between Starmer and Macron at the Chequers estate near London last week, the newspaper reported.
Although the details of these negotiations have not been officially revealed, several high-ranking sources from the British government have stressed that Starmer has not yet given his full approval, the paper wrote. “It’s a question of what we could support, what we would support, and the broader question of the risk to which these troops would be exposed and whether this is an escalation” said an unnamed source from Whitehall to the newspaper.
The proposal comes at a time when Kiev’s partners in the EU are seeking ways to continue supporting Ukraine, while the designated US President Donald Trump is pushing for a peace agreement between Kiev and Moscow, the Telegraph reported.
Trump, who is set to take office on Monday, had repeatedly said during his election campaign that he could end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours. He has now renounced his promise and expressed the hope that the conflict could be ended within half a year, the newspaper reported.
Officially, the British government represents the position that Kiev’s Western supporters should provide as much help as possible, and that Ukraine should itself decide when and if to hold peace talks, the paper wrote.
Not only in the public but also behind closed doors in Westminster, the question is increasingly being discussed as to whether Western troops are needed to guarantee the peace conditions for Ukraine. The deliberations revolve around the idea that Russia could retain the occupied territories in the framework of a peace agreement. This prospect, however, is still very uncertain, the newspaper reported.
There is also a problem in that Trump’s criticism of sending troops abroad and financial support to Ukraine makes it unlikely that US troops would participate, the newspaper reported, citing British officials.
A proposal put forward by the US government is that Western troops could monitor a 1,300-kilometer-long border between Russia and Ukraine and establish a demilitarized buffer zone, the paper reported, citing Macron, who is pushing for the EU to take on this role. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, with whom Macron discussed this proposal in mid-December, said, however, that Warsaw plans no such measures.
On Monday, Zelensky announced that he had discussed the question of stationing Western troops on Ukrainian territory with Macron and reiterated the question of security guarantees for Ukraine. “As one of these guarantees, we have discussed France’s initiative to send troops to Ukraine. We have considered practical steps for its implementation, a possible expansion, and the inclusion of other countries in this process” Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
Government officials in Ukraine, however, have stressed that they do not yet fully support this idea. “We are a bit premature. We are not yet that far” said an unnamed official to the newspaper.
Stationing troops abroad would burden the British Ministry of Defence’s budget with additional expenditures, the Telegraph noted. Moreover, these steps could be perceived by Russia as an escalation. For this reason, even Starmer’s predecessors have consistently rejected the idea of sending troops to Ukraine.