“It does not matter under what label Nato contingents were to be deployed on Ukrainian territory: be it the European Union, NATO or in a national capacity,” Grushko reportedly said.
“If they appear there, it means that they are deployed in the conflict zone with all the consequences for these contingents as parties to the conflict.”
French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Wednesday with Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.Credit: AP
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday that Moscow’s agreement wasn’t needed for any peacekeeping deployment in Ukraine.
“Ukraine is sovereign. If it asks for Allied forces to be on its territory, it’s not up to Russia to accept or not,” Macron said, according to Le Parisien.
Paris and London are working to put together a military support force for Ukraine – a so-called “coalition of the willing” that could be deployed after any ceasefire with Russia. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said he would consider sending troops to join such a peacekeeping force.
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Macron told French media on Sunday that this French-British blueprint did not aim to deploy a “mass” of soldiers in Ukraine, but rather envisaged stationing several thousand troops in key locations.
Their missions could include providing training and supporting Ukrainian defences, to demonstrate long-term support for Kyiv, media reports quoted Macron as saying.
In the United States, Trump has been trying to win Putin’s support for a 30-day ceasefire proposal that Ukraine accepted last week, as both sides continued trading heavy aerial strikes through the weekend and Russia moved closer to ejecting Ukrainian forces from their months-old foothold in the western Russian region of Kursk.
Trump landed back at Joint Base Andrews, just outside of Washington, in the early hours of Monday morning (local time) and returned to the White House.
Trump, who has upended United States policy by shifting closer to Moscow, has described Ukraine as being more difficult to work with than Russia. He held an explosive meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month that ended with the Ukrainian leader leaving the White House early.
Ukraine’s acceptance of a proposed ceasefire has put the onus on Russia to cede to Trump’s demands and will test the US president’s more positive view of Putin, who launched Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
Reuters, AP
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