Foreign troops will be deployed in Ukraine in the near future. This opinion was expressed by an officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Sergei Shakun, to Novosti.Live, UNIAN reported.
“I am sure that in the near future there will be foreign troops on the territory of Ukraine: either English, maybe French, maybe Polish“, Shakun emphasized. He recalled that some people earlier did not believe that Ukraine would receive F16 fighter jets and Leopard battle tanks from its Western partners and modern air defense systems, but the Ukrainian forces already have them.
At the same time, the Ukrainian military stressed that it was inappropriate to talk about a ceasefire, as this would not solve the problem, but would only allow the Russian Federation to restore its forces for a future offensive.
Shakun noted that Europe understands that more weapons and people are needed to defend Ukraine. “That is why I am sure that this can happen in the near future, because our European friends understand that [the Russians] will come to them“, he said.
For the first time, French President Emmanuel Macron said that it was necessary to send NATO troops to Ukraine. However, his words met with serious resistance from countries such as the United States and Germany, which indicated that there would be no Alliance troops in Ukraine. To date, no decision has been made on the deployment of NATO forces in Ukraine, against which Russia launched a full-scale war nearly three years ago.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, confirmed last week that negotiations are underway to send French and British peacekeepers to Ukraine, Ukrinform reported. “This initiative is from French President Macron, and I think you saw that a few days ago the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom met with President Macron and they discussed this issue,” said Zelensky's adviser. “I would not like to go into details. These consultations are ongoing. I can confirm that these negotiations are ongoing, and it is undoubtedly very important that they can become part of certain security guarantees,” he said. Yermak also noted that the main guarantee of Ukraine's security remains full-fledged NATO membership.