 "Zelenskyy: Ukraine to negotiate foreign troop deployment for security assurances")
Ukraine will conduct in-depth negotiations with a limited number of foreign nations on Friday about providing forces to a contingent that would serve as Ukraine’s security guarantee, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian leader told a press conference with Germany’s foreign minister that he was waiting for “more concrete” responses from Kyiv’s partners on their willingness to join such a force, an idea that Russia vehemently opposes.
“As far as the matter of a contingent goes, we will have a meeting on Friday. It will be a meeting of our military teams, several countries, a narrow circle of countries that will be ready to deploy a contingent in one form or another,” he said.
Zelenskyy stated that the contingent would include a land component, an aviation component, and a presence at sea.
U.S. President Donald Trump has stated that he wants to end the three-year conflict in Ukraine, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Last week, Washington mediated an agreement between the two countries to suspend strikes on one other’s energy infrastructure.
The United States has hoped for a complete cease-fire, followed by a long-term peace solution. However, despite Trump’s vows to resolve the war quickly, a solution looks to be a long shot.
Kyiv’s European partners have shown a willingness to deploy troops to a force that would give security assurances to Ukraine during a truce and enhance Ukraine’s military in the long run.
“This will be the first in-depth meeting, (before that) there were consultations. I think we will see some clarifications and some details,” Zelenskyy said of Friday’s meeting.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsHe added that it was not only the contingent under discussion. “It is very important how the future of the Ukrainian army will look like,” he said.
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that British, French and Ukrainian military leaders would meet in the coming days to build on “real momentum” in efforts to boost Ukraine’s security.
The Ukrainian leader also used the news conference to urge the United States to ramp up sanctions on Russia for what he said were violations of the ceasefire on energy infrastructure.
He said that the United States had told the Ukrainians privately that it had seen Russian violations of the agreement, which emerged from talks held in Saudi Arabia last week.
Russia has itself accused the Ukrainians of continuing to strike energy infrastructure, something Kyiv denies.
Trump rapidly reoriented American policy on the war since taking office in January, resuming direct dialogue with Russia, while at times piling pressure on Ukraine, for instance by temporarily cutting arms supplies and intelligence sharing.
This week, the United States proposed a dramatically expanded minerals deal with Ukraine, a summary of which seen by Reuters suggested that Washington was demanding all Ukraine’s natural resources income for years.
Zelenskyy, who wants the White House as a close partner and has been cautious in his public pronouncements on the deal, told reporters on Tuesday that Ukrainian and American teams were working on a draft.
But Ukraine, he said, would have to nominate a legal company to work on the draft, a decision that would be made in the coming days.
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