British Armed Forces Chief Admiral Tony Radakin discussed the possibility of sending a "peacekeeping force" to Ukraine at a meeting with his French and Ukrainian counterparts in Kiev, the British Ministry of Defense said.
“As part of the UK-led effort to establish the Coalition of the Willing to achieve a lasting peace in Ukraine, Commander-in-Chief Admiral Tony Radakin met his Ukrainian and French counterparts in Kiev,” the statement said.
“The chiefs of military staff discussed the structure, number and composition necessary to form the guarantor forces in Ukraine in the future.”
The statement did not mention which representatives from France and Ukraine were present at the meeting with Radakin.
Following a summit of the Volunteer Coalition in Paris on March 27, French President Emmanuel Macron said that a number of coalition member countries planned to send “deterrent forces” to Ukraine.
Macron stressed that the joint Franco-British initiative was not intended to replace Ukraine's military role, and that the deterrent force was not a peacekeeping force.
Their goal is to hold back Russia's advance, and they will be deployed at strategic locations determined jointly with the Ukrainian side.
Macron acknowledged that not everyone agreed with the initiative, but said full agreement was not a condition for it to go ahead.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed on March 6 that Russia sees no room for compromise on the issue of sending foreign peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.
Lavrov added that if foreign contingents were actually deployed, Western countries would not be willing to agree to the terms of a peace settlement because their presence would create “facts on the ground”.
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the plans of a number of EU countries to send “peacekeeping forces” to Ukraine were a provocative step that would only foster illusions among the Kiev authorities.
The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) also said that Western countries are considering sending a so-called 100,000-strong contingent of “peacekeeping forces” to Ukraine, which would in reality be a form of covert occupation.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said sending peacekeepers could only happen if all parties to the conflict agreed to it.
According to him, it is still too early to talk about sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.
Source: Sputnik-OANA
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