Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: TWENTY-SIX countries, mostly European, have formally pledged to deploy troops as part of a future Russian-Ukrainian ceasefire, French President Emmanuel Macron has announced. The announcement followed a virtual meeting of the coalition on September 4, co-chaired by Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“The day the conflict stops, the security guarantees will be deployed,” the French President told a press conference at the Élysée Palace in Paris, standing alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, following a meeting of the “Coalition of the Willing.” Macron said the countries would contribute to a “reassurance force” that could deploy troops in Ukraine or provide support on land, at sea, or in the air.
The troops would not be deployed “on the frontline” but aim to “prevent any new major aggression”, he said.
Macron initially said the 26 nations – which he did not name – would deploy to Ukraine. But he later said some countries would provide guarantees while remaining outside Ukraine, for example by helping to train and equip Kyiv’s forces. He did not say how many troops would be involved in the guarantees.
The Ukrainian president hailed the move. “I think that today, for the first time in a long time, this is the first such serious concrete step,” he said. He added after the summit, participants held a call with US President Donald Trump and the United States is expected to finalise its contributions to the security guarantees in the coming days, Xinhua news agency reported. Meanwhile, Russian President. Vladimir Putin has rejected Western proposals for a “reassurance force” President Trump had recently indicated that US backing could “probably” come in the form of air support, and Zelensky said he had spoken to the US leader about “maximum protection for Ukraine’s skies”.
