French Emmanuel Macron's visit to Poland has put European support for Ukraine in the spotlight as potential troop deployments are tabled as efforts to secure a lasting ceasefire with Russia are ongoing. This follows a meeting with US president-elect Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris on Saturday.
Speaking during a joint press conference with Macron in Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he discussed the possibility of stationing foreign troops in Ukraine in case of a ceasefire with Russia, but that Poland was not currently "planning any such actions".
During Macron's visit, Tusk underlined: "I would like to take this opportunity to end speculation about the potential presence of troops from one country or another in Ukraine once a ceasefire or peace has been agreed. The president [Macron] knows this, we discussed it, any decision on Polish actions will be taken in Warsaw and only in Warsaw. For the moment, we are not planning any such actions".
"We will work with France on a solution that will, above all, protect Europe and Ukraine from resuming the conflict if an agreement can be reached," he added.
Trump, Zelensky meeting in Paris
Thursday's bilateral talks follow a meeting at the Elysée Palace between Macron, Trump and Zelensky on Saturday, that has been described as "brief but important".
Donald Trump – who will take office at the White House on 20 January – has called for an immediate ceasefire and for negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine, the day after his Paris meeting with Zelensky.
However, in an interview published in Time Magazine this Thursday Trump said he disagrees "very vehemently" with Ukraine firing US-supplied missiles deep into Russia.
But the US president-elect insisted he would not abandon Ukraine as US support for Kyiv would be key leverage in efforts to bring the war to a close.
Trump returns to world stage at Notre-Dame Cathedral reopening in Paris
Winter peace talks?
Tusk has recently mooted that peace talks on ending Russia's war in Ukraine could begin this winter.
The Polish prime minister – who is a staunch backer of neighbouring Ukraine and will take over the rotating EU presidency from Hungary next month – also announced a series of upcoming talks with foreign officials.
"Our [EU] presidency will notably be co-responsible for what the political landscape will look like, perhaps how the situation will look during [peace] negotiations, which could begin – though there are still question marks – in the winter of this year," Tusk told reporters on Tuesday.
Poland has been a strong Ukraine supporter since Russia invaded nearly three years ago and serves as a crucial logistics hub for Western military aid to Kyiv.
EU and Mercosur trade bloc finalise free trade deal opposed by France
Opposition to Mercosur deal
Meanwhile, Macron and Tusk also discussed the controversial trade deal between the EU and the South American Mercosur bloc, with the French president hammering home his opposition to agreement concluded in Uruguay last week, stressing that European farmers could not be “sacrificed in the name of the principles of the past century”.
Both France and Poland are opposed to the trade agreement which aims to create a vast market of more than 700 million consumers, but still needs the approval of at least 15 member states representing 65 percent of the EU's population, and then a majority in the European Parliament.
Thursday’s meeting in Warsaw came ahead of a forthcoming EU summit on 19 December and Poland’s presidency of the EU Council on 1 January.
