Paris (EFE).- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that the Paris summit on Ukraine had named French President Emmanuel Macron and United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer as Europe’s representatives for possible peace talks on the war with Russia.
“Today all of us in Europe have agreed that Europe will be represented by and the UK, by Macron and Starmer. I think that is also important. It is a clear position and we want to send this signal to all other partners and certainly to the United States,” said Zelenskyy.
“The Ukrainian position is clear. Europe must be at the negotiating table to end the war. It is necessary. We see no alternative,” the Ukrainian president added.
The French president wanted this meeting of European leaders to advance plans for the creation of a European military contingent to ensure compliance with a future peace agreement in Ukraine. He also wanted to reaffirm that the nations meeting in Paris would maintain sanctions against Russia for its aggression against Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said he was “satisfied” with the meeting results even though it did not lead to a concrete decision on the deployment of a European peacekeeping contingent after the war.
Among the outcomes and announcements were new military aid for Ukraine. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the French, British, and German army chiefs’ will visit Kyiv to help with a plan to the future Ukrainian army.
Franco-British military mission in Ukraine
Macron confirmed that and the UK will tly “pilot” the European effort in Ukraine.
The French president announced that the two countries would soon send a military mission to Ukraine to assess on the ground the possibilities for force deployment, including their location, capabilities, and size.
This military mission would also study, along with Ukrainian officials, the design of the country’s future armed forces.
Both Macron and Starmer insisted that this would be a peacekeeping to deter Russia from a new attack.
Starmer suggested a new Ukraine defense group meeting “to marshal more military aid and keep Ukraine in the fight.”
British diplomatic sources have previously indicated that the allied contingent would comprise around 20,000 troops and be limited to protecting strategic infrastructure.
Macron summed up that the aim of the summit was “to put Ukraine in the best possible position to negotiate and to ensure that the peace that is agreed is solid and lasting.” EFE
mg-dgp/mcd
