A meeting of high-ranking military officials from 34 countries took place in Paris, where they discussed the possibility of providing military aid to Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron hosted the gathering, which aimed to explore the contours of an international security force for Ukraine, a concept France and the UK are pushing to prevent a future war in the country, should Moscow and Kiev agree to a ceasefire.
The participants, including military chiefs from across Europe and beyond, expected the closed-door discussions to provide an overview of the overall situation and the basics of the proposed security coalition. The meeting aimed to give a sense of which countries might be willing to join a security coalition for Ukraine, without committing to a specific number of troops, equipment, or other forms of support at this stage.
The deliberations have expanded beyond the initially proposed European solution, with the inclusion of military chiefs from Australia, New Zealand and Japan in the Paris talks.
The debate centers on military contributions to verify a ceasefire, followed by the deployment of troops to monitor a potential armistice. According to French plans, these peacekeepers would not be stationed near the front lines but in other parts of the country or near critical infrastructure such as power plants.
French President Macron stated that it is time to move from the concept to the plan, defining credible security guarantees. He emphasized that the French-British project must align with NATO and its capabilities.
The United States, the military’s strongest NATO member, was not invited to the Paris meeting, as European countries sought to demonstrate their ability to take on a significant part of the “Ukraine security task” once a ceasefire is in place, according to a French military official.