President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the members of the Contact Group on Ukraine's Defence to consider France's initiative to deploy a foreign contingent on Ukrainian territory.
He said this during a meeting in the Ramstein format on 9 January. Zelenskyy added that Putin's goals remain unchanged today — to completely destroy Ukraine and break its partners.
"That is why our goal is to find as many tools as possible to force Russia to peace. I believe that this placement of continental partners is one of the best tools. Let's be more practical in making this possible. We have heard signals from some of our partners — from the United Kingdom — in support of this. And we have to be brave and offer really strong tools," the president said.
He called the Kursk operation one of the biggest victories. Russia was forced to withdraw almost 60,000 troops to confront Ukraine in the Kursk operation. The Kursk operation is an example of such courage, and it proved that most of Russia's claims were a bluff.
Foreign contingent in Ukraine
- In December, the Ukrainian president commented on his French counterpart's idea to deploy a foreign contingent in Ukraine as a security guarantee. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, "We can think and work on Emmanuel's position. He proposed that some part of the troops of a particular country should be present on the territory of Ukraine to guarantee our security while Ukraine is not in NATO. But before that, we must have a clear understanding of when Ukraine will be in the EU and when Ukraine will be in NATO. Understanding our future, these would be very effective guarantees." He was referring to the contingent of foreign troops in Ukraine after the war.
- France is also promoting the creation of a coalition of military instructors for Ukraine.