Germany is ready to take part militarily in “monitoring a ceasefire in Ukraine. This could mean that after a ceasefire, the German armed forces could support Ukraine by operating from NATO territory neighboring Ukraine”, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said after the summit of the so-called coalition of the willing. The politician’s suggestion sparked considerable comment.
On Tuesday in Paris, a meeting of the so-called coalition of the willing took place, attended alongside European Union leaders by, among others, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Mark Rutte, and representatives of U.S. President Donald Trump – Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner – who are involved in peace talks.
Witkoff said that significant progress had been made in several areas, including security guarantees and a plan for Ukraine’s reconstruction. He announced that talks with the Ukrainian delegation would continue in the coming days.
Macron: France Ready to Send Several Thousand Troops
French President Emmanuel Macron said after the coalition of the willing summit that the mechanisms for overseeing a future truce in the war between Ukraine and Russia would be under U.S. leadership.
The French president assured that the United States had clarified its role; he also said that in recent weeks there had been a shift in the American position. Then, in an interview with the France2 television channel, Macron stated that “several thousand French soldiers could be deployed to support peace in Ukraine after a possible signing of a ceasefire in the war waged by Russia”. He emphasized that these would be “reassurance forces”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the conclusions of Tuesday’s coalition of the willing summit supporting his country were “a major step forward”. He praised the “concrete substance” agreed on security guarantees for his country.
Zelenskyy added that the meeting had also determined how European forces sent to Ukraine would operate after a ceasefire and which countries’ troops they would consist of.
He added that the coalition of the willing security guarantees should dovetail with U.S. security guarantees that are independent of them.
Merz: The German Military Could Operate from a NATO Country Neighboring Ukraine
The statement by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was particularly surprising.
He declared that Germany is ready to take part militarily in “monitoring a ceasefire in Ukraine”.
“This could mean that after a ceasefire, the German military could support Ukraine by operating from NATO territory neighboring Ukraine” – Merz said.
Ukraine borders four NATO countries: Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia. These could therefore be considered potential locations for the deployment of forces.
At the same time, the head of the German government stated that Berlin “basically rules nothing out”. The dpa news agency interprets these words as possible readiness to send German troops also to Ukrainian territory.
Merz declared that Germany “will continue to make political, financial, and military contributions”.
Responding to journalists’ questions about the formula for stationing German troops, he said that “it may also be right to do both, that is, to station troops in Ukraine and to station additional troops in neighboring countries that could be deployed [to Ukraine] in the event of renewed aggression by Russia”.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that a trilateral agreement with France and Ukraine sets the legal framework under which “British, French, and other partners’ troops” will operate on Ukrainian territory after a possible truce.
“The hardest tasks are still ahead of us” – the British leader stressed at a press conference after the meeting of the coalition of the willing, a group of countries supporting Ukraine.
Finland and Spain also declared their involvement in international forces supporting Ukraine.