Europe 'ready' to offer security guarantees: Macron

PARIS/MOSCOW — French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday that 26 countries, mostly European, have formally pledged to deploy troops as part of a future Russian-Ukrainian ceasefire, though not directly on the front line.

Speaking alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a news conference following the 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.

He added that after the summit, participants held a call with US President Donald Trump and the United States is expected to finalize its contributions to the security guarantees in the coming days.

Zelensky welcomed the announcement as a "concrete" step forward and stressed that a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whether bilateral or trilateral, is "necessary" for advancing peace efforts.

Later, asked if the US president planned to speak to Putin in the near future, Trump said: "Yeah, I will be. We are having a very good dialogue."

"The day the conflict stops, the security guarantees will be deployed," Macron told a news conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, standing alongside Zelensky.

European officials say peace looks like a distant prospect for now, but they want to be ready whenever the war ends. They also see the planning of security guarantees as a way to reassure Kyiv of their support and hope Trump will join their efforts.

Macron initially said the 26 nations, which he did not name, would deploy to Ukraine. But he later said that 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.

US involvement

Germany and other countries pledged they would be involved in that effort. But Berlin said it would decide on a military commitment only when conditions were clear, including the extent of US involvement in security guarantees.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made it clear that she would not send troops to Ukraine, but said Italy was open to monitoring a ceasefire and training Ukrainian troops outside the country.

France and Britain, which co-chair the meeting, have indicated that they are open to deploying troops to Ukraine after the fighting ends.

The Kremlin said on Friday that security guarantees for Ukraine cannot be provided by foreign military contingents, and much work needs to be done before a high or top-level meeting between Moscow and Kyiv to settle the conflict in Ukraine.

"Can Ukraine's security guarantees be ensured and provided by foreign, especially European and American, military contingents? Definitely not, they cannot," the Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia's RIA state news agency on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in the city of Vladivostok.

"This cannot serve as a security guarantee for Ukraine that would be acceptable to our country."

Putin said on Friday that any foreign troops deployed to Ukraine before a peace agreement has been signed would be considered "legitimate targets" by Moscow's forces.

"If any troops appear there, especially now while fighting is ongoing, we assume that they will be legitimate targets," he said during a panel at the Eastern Economic Forum in the city of Vladivostok.

Agencies - Xinhua