The coalition of the willing, the group of countries willing to contribute to the security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of ceased the fire, also with the sending of troops if necessary. On the sidelines of the Paris Defense and Security Forum, the French President Emmanuel Macron met 34 leaders of Staff of the countries ready to do his part alongside Kiev in Paris.
In the meeting behind closed doors Macron invited the participants to draw up “a plan to define credible security guarantees” for Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement with Russia, according to what reported by the Elysée. “Given the acceleration of peace negotiations”, the French leader “said that it is now necessary to go from the concept to the plan ‘to define credible security guarantees, in order to make a solid and lasting peace possible”, “said the presidency at the end of the meeting. According to the Elisee, the participants agreed that the security guarantees “should not be separated from NATO and its skills”, despite the rapprochement between Washington and Moscow.
The meeting without the USA
Among the participants in the meeting there were generals of 30 EU and NATO countries, including the United Kingdom and Turkey, but also Japan, Australia and New Zealand. For Italy, the chief chief of the defense, Luciano Portolano, was present (but only as an observer). However, there were no United States, an unprecedented absence for such a meeting and that only a few weeks ago it would have been unthinkable. But the world is changing and transatlantic relationships are at a turning point, with the USA of Trump who are moving away from their historical European partners and seem to approach Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
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Tomorrow (Wednesday 12 March) there is also a meeting of the Defense Ministers of the E5 group (France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Poland), as well as the representatives of the European Union and NATO and, by videoconference, of the Ukrainian Defense Minister. The interviews will focus on the aid to Ukraine, at a time when the United States of Trump suspended their military and intelligence support, and on the European plans of Resto.
First step towards security guarantees
“With my counterpart Tony Radakin next to the leaders of Staff of the armies of 34 countries. Gathered to discuss the support for Ukraine. A decisive moment that marks the European positioning to weigh in the resolution of the conflict,” wrote the head of the French armed forces, Thierry Burkhard, before the start of the meeting under closed doors. “By sharing responsibility with Ukraine and the United States”, he then pointed out.
The meeting was held on the same day when an Ukrainian delegation met an American team in Saudi Arabia to discuss the ways to end the war with Russia, three years after the beginning of the invasion. The Paris meeting was “important”, according to the Minister of the French Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, because he placed “a first stone on these guarantees of security”.
The future of the Ukrainian army
At the meeting there was discussed “What the Ukrainian army will have to be in the future, therefore starting from the principle that the first guarantee of security remains the Ukrainian army”, with the participants in the meeting that “will refuse any form of demilitarization of Ukraine”, explained by intervening at the forum on the defense and security in Paris. With its 800 thousand men, the Ukrainian army is the largest in Europe, as the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky often recalls, and these men have no intention of abandoning weapons forever, as requested by Moscow.
Last week Zelensky asked for an aerial and maritime truce to start the talks on a “lasting peace” with Moscow, an idea also made by Macron and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but which was defined by “absolutely unacceptable” Moscow. According to its promoters, it is an opportunity to test Russia’s availability for dialogue.
The contingent of peace
The idea of unfolding European troops as a peace contingent in Ukraine has recently been raised on several occasions. Paris and London, in particular, are closely involved in discussions on the implementation of this option. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is in turn organizing a virtual meeting for Saturday with the leaders of the countries ready to help prevent the resumption of hostilities in Ukraine in the event of ceased fire.
But Lecornu always explained, in an interview with the newspaper La Tribune Dimanche, that before taking into consideration the deployment of troops it is necessary to define the mission of this coalition of the willing. “The final decision depends on the definition of clear conditions: what the mission, what is the goal, what is the mandate and what are the guarantees in terms of American protection”, the Dutch Minister of Defense, Ruben Brekelmans, echoed in Paris, claiming that Washington remains a “reliable ally” in NATO.
