invitation to NATO, Western troops in Ukraine: Ukraine: Former USSR: Lenta.ru

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky revealed details of the meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and US President-elect Donald Trump, which took place at the opening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on December 9. His words are reported by the agency Bloomberg.

Zelensky stated the need to invite Ukraine to NATO

The Ukrainian leader said that Kyiv needs to have security guarantees to prevent a possible continuation of the conflict in the future. One of them, in his opinion, should be inviting Ukraine to NATO.

According to him, Kyiv “like no one else” wants to stop the conflict on the territory of the republic, but must do this “from a position of strength.”

At the meeting, the leaders raised the issue of the presence of Western soldiers on the territory of Ukraine

Zelensky at the meeting put forward a proposal, once made by Macron, that soldiers of some countries allies of Kyiv could be present on the territory of Ukraine until it joins NATO. This proposal, as the agency notes, did not receive support among European leaders, but can be again considered as a guarantee of security after the conflict is frozen.

“We can think and work on Emmanuel’s proposal – he proposed that some troops of some countries be present in some areas of Ukrainian territory to guarantee our security until Ukraine is in NATO,” Zelensky said.

How did the West and Ukraine react to the negotiations?

The head of the French Patriots party, Florian Philippot, said that Zelensky and Macron want to speed up the sending of French troops to Ukraine before Trump comes to power in the United States.

Former head of the French military mission to the UN, General Dominique Trinquant expressed the opinion that Western troops can be deployed on the frozen front line for the security of Ukraine.

“We are placing troops on the contact line, asking European countries if they are willing to provide them. This would be an indirect way of integrating them into the process,” the military man said, adding that after this negotiations between Moscow and Kiev would begin.

In turn, former Ukrainian diplomat Rostislav Ishchenko said that Vladimir Zelensky is putting forward obviously unrealistic demands because he does not want to start negotiations with Russia.