Britain and France both announced an agreement following the Jan. 6 summit of the Coalition of the Willing, that they are ready to deploy troops to Ukraine should some kind of ceasefire or peace agreement be reached. French President Emmanuel Macron, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the trilateral declaration of intent on Tuesday evening, Jan. 6, after hours of talks, which they said would pave the way for the deployment of French and British troops on Ukrainian soil, reported The Guardian. “Following a ceasefire, the U.K. and France will establish military hubs across Ukraine,” said Starmer.
However the planned ground force is unlikely to engage directly with Russian forces should Moscow relaunch an invasion of Ukraine, The Guardian claimed. Macron made it clear that the goal of the force would be “to provide reassurance after the ceasefire” and noted it would be stationed “a long way behind the contact line.” There was no further clarity given immediately on the size or scope of the potential force. Macron said the coalition had also drawn up a plan to take on “ceasefire monitoring commitments under American leadership” as well as “long-term support to Ukrainian armed forces who are and will remain in the front line of defense.”
Backing the plan was White House envoy Steve Witkoff, who replied, when asked if the U.S. would come to the aid of European forces if they were attacked in Ukraine, that the security guarantees are “as strong as anyone has ever seen” and were meant to “deter any further attacks in Ukraine and … if there are any attacks they’re meant to defend. And they will do both.”
“The President does not back down from his commitments, he is strong for the country of Ukraine and for a peace deal,” he added. “We will be there for the Ukrainians in helping them to get to that final peace.”
