The deployment of a European peacekeeping contingent to Ukraine after the end of the war will not require Russia’s consent, French President Emmanuel Macron has said. He made it clear that the allies would not take into account Vladimir Putin’s opinion on the matter. “Ukraine is sovereign and if it asks for allied troops to be on its territory, it is not for Russia to decide whether to agree or not,” Macron emphasized in an interview with Le Parisien.
He said the deployment of peacekeepers would be one of the negotiating points, as “it is clear that the Ukrainians can in no way make territorial concessions and have no security guarantee.” Macron added that France and Britain have almost finalized a plan to protect Ukraine from another attack. According to it, peacekeepers could be sent to Kyiv, Odessa and Lviv. We are talking about “several thousand people from each European country.” Macron also stressed that he considers Putin’s rejection of any Western troop deployment in Ukraine “a clear sign of the strategic existential threat” he spoke of in his March 5 address to the nation.
