Emmanuel Macron announced a plan to send “reassurance forces” from “several European countries” based in “certain strategic locations” in Ukraine in the event of a peace treaty with Russia.
These forces would “act as a deterrent against potential Russian aggression," he told reporters during a press conference following a high-stakes "Coalition of the Willing" summit for Ukraine in Paris on Thursday.
However, these reassurance forces “are not intended to be peacekeeping forces” as they will not replace the Ukrainian Armed Forces and will not be positioned on the frontlines but instead in "strategic towns" and bases.
This proposal “will be worked on by our military chiefs of staff” in the coming weeks to determine “the map and format” of these deployments.
“These reassurance forces would in no way replace or reduce our efforts on NATO's eastern flank”, but "would come in addition’" concluded Macron.
'Not a unanimous' decision
The French leader said that not every country at the summit agreed with this plan. "It is not unanimous," he said, "But we do not need unanimity to achieve it."
The question of sending troops to Ukraine has created stark divisions among EU and NATO allies.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that Italy will not participate in this plan, while her Polish counterpart Donald Tusk said last month, "We do not plan to send Polish soldiers to the territory of Ukraine."
While Macron expressed his wish for US support in the case of a European deployment, he also stressed the need to prepare for a scenario where Europe has to independently.
The French leader also announced the dispatch of a “Franco-British team to Ukraine” to “prepare the format of tomorrow's Ukrainian army" to analyse what sort of equipment Kyiv would need to dissuade any further Russian attacks.
Echoing his statements from Wednesday night, the French President reiterated that it is too early to lift sanctions on Russia.
The announcement comes after the US said on Tuesday that it will start lifting some sanctions on Moscow, particularly on agricultural trade.
The summit's goal was to lay the groundwork for long-term security guarantees and turn the Ukrainian army into the first line of defence against any future aggression amid the growing threat from Russia.
The meeting in Paris came amid intensifying efforts to broker a ceasefire, driven by pressure from US President Donald Trump to end Russia's war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.
US-brokered agreements to safeguard shipping in the Black Sea and halt strikes on energy infrastructure were greeted as a first step towards peace. However, both Moscow and Kyiv have disagreed over details and accused each other of violations.
Despite the agreement, the conflict rages on. Ukrainian media on Thursday reported that dozens of people had been injured and one person killed over the last day by Russian attacks.
Zelenskyy said the attacks were further evidence that the US and Europe should not ease sanctions on Moscow.
