France Macron discusses further support for Ukraine in Poland

French President Emmanuel Macron plans to meet Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw on Thursday to discuss European support for Ukraine in light of the change of power in the USA. According to unconfirmed media reports, this could also involve considerations of stationing a peacekeeping force of foreign soldiers in Ukraine after the war.

According to the German Press Agency, representatives of several NATO states have been holding confidential talks for weeks on how a possible future ceasefire in Ukraine could be monitored. France and Great Britain are reportedly leading the way.

The background to this is the scenario that Donald Trump, as US President, could try to pressure Ukraine and Russia into negotiations. To this end, he could, for example, threaten to cut off military aid to Ukraine if it refuses. In turn, he could threaten Russian President Vladimir Putin to increase military aid to Kiev once again if the Kremlin leader refuses to negotiate.

Could Germany take part in a peacekeeping mission?

The extent to which the German government is involved in the talks has recently been unclear. According to information from NATO circles obtained by Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock raised the issue of a possible international presence following a ceasefire in Ukraine at a working meeting with the other foreign ministers of the NATO states in Brussels last week. She made it clear that, if the worst came to the worst, the question of participation would also arise for Germany and all other NATO partners.

The new EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, had already said at the beginning of the month that she considered it conceivable that European soldiers would secure a possible ceasefire in Ukraine. According to her, the soldiers for this could also come from countries that have already expressed their openness to talks about sending troops in the past. These include France and the Baltic states, for example.

40,000-strong peacekeeping force?

As the news magazine "Politico" has now reported, citing an EU diplomat and a French official, Macron wants to talk to Tusk about the possible deployment of a peacekeeping force of foreign troops after the end of the war. The Polish daily newspaper "Rzeczpospolita" quoted an expert from the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI), according to which such a mission could consist of five brigades with a total of around 40,000 soldiers - one of which could be commanded by Poland. However, there was no confirmation of this information in Paris.

Poland's Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Tuesday: "Sending Polish soldiers to Ukraine is currently out of the question." Although the topic "appears in publications", there is no official confirmation of the intention to deploy European troops in Ukraine.

Macron had already spoken with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi in Paris at the weekend about the fate of the country attacked by Russia. Trump called for a ceasefire in the conflict and directly called on Kremlin leader Putin to take action.