French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that a number of countries have pledged to provide troops as part of a “reassurance force” to send to Ukraine after a peace deal was reached, a plan Russia has made clear it would never accept.
Macron made the comments alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after hosting a summit of the so-called “coalition of the willing,” a group of 35 countries that support Ukraine. He said that 26 countries pledged to provide troops on land, at sea, or in the air, signaling that not all countries are willing to deploy troops on the ground in Ukraine.
The French leader said that the force “does not have the will or the objective of waging war against Russia,” but will aim “to prevent any new major aggression and to involve the 26 states very clearly in the lasting security of Ukraine.”
Both he and Zelensky said the US supports the idea, and President Trump has signaled he’s willing to provide air power for the deployment, but has ruled out sending US troops into Ukraine.
Officials told The Washington Post that the US has expressed to its European allies its willingness to provide additional air defenses, including assistance in enforcing a no-fly zone, as well as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.
One US official told the Post that the American role in the deployment was yet to be determined. “There is a difference between offer and agree,” the official said. “That’s the president’s call. He has not made any decision yet.”
The insistence on putting troops from NATO countries on the ground in Ukraine could end up sinking the peace process as Moscow has repeatedly rejected the possibility and says that it must be involved in any talks about security guarantees for Ukraine.
“Russia is not going to discuss a foreign intervention in Ukraine in any form or format that is fundamentally unacceptable and undermines any security,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.