KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday ordered the arrival of Western troops in Ukraine to ensure the country's security as part of a broader effort to end the nearly three-year war with Russia. He said that he was positive about the possibility of dispatching people.
President Zelenskyy said in a post on his Telegram channel that the deployment would be a step towards Ukraine's NATO membership.
“But before that, we need to have a clear understanding of when Ukraine will join the European Union and when Ukraine will join NATO,” Zelensky said.
His proposal treads a delicate diplomatic path amid international efforts to find a way to end Europe's biggest conflict since World War II, with Russia gaining the upper hand in combat.
US President-elect Donald Trump is seeking to achieve a ceasefire and met with Zelensky in Paris on Saturday. But President Zelensky said on Monday that he would ask outgoing President Joe Biden about Ukraine's possible membership in NATO because Trump does not yet have the “legal right” to decide on the matter.
“He wants a ceasefire,” Trump said of Zelensky in comments to the New York Post published Sunday. “He wants peace. He didn't go into details.”
President Trump pointed out that Putin's forces are suffering heavy losses in Ukraine.
“We're trying to figure out how to end that stupid war,” he said.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion began on February 24, 2022, the possibility of Ukraine joining the 32-nation NATO military alliance and the presence of Western forces on Ukrainian territory has been deeply divisive and controversial. It has become a controversial issue.
At a summit in Washington in July, NATO declared Ukraine on an “irreversible” path to membership, but stopped short of admitting the country. The United States and Germany are reluctant to allow Ukraine, which is at war with Russia, to join NATO.
One obstacle is the view that Ukraine's borders need to be clearly demarcated before it joins, so that there is no doubt where the alliance's mutual defense pact will come into force. Russian invading forces occupy about one-fifth of Ukraine.
Last February, French President Emmanuel Macron floated the idea of stationing Western troops in Ukraine. But it raised the same concerns of escalation that led Western leaders to impose restrictions on the supply of weapons and authorization for their use.
Europe's military powers, Germany and Poland, have announced that they will not immediately send troops to Ukraine. President Macron said he wanted to maintain “strategic ambiguity” and gave no details about which countries were considering sending troops.
Ukraine's military has endured months of onslaught by Russia, mainly in the eastern Donetsk region, where Kiev's defenses have been compromised.
President Zelenskiy told X that in the past week alone, Russia has fired nearly 500 powerful guided bombs, more than 400 attack drones and nearly 20 missiles of various types into Ukraine.
“Ukraine, more than anyone else, wants this war to end. There is no doubt that a diplomatic solution will save lives. That's what we want,” he said.
President Zelensky thanked Biden for the latest round of nearly $1 billion in U.S. military aid. While doubts remain over whether President Trump will continue U.S. military aid, the Biden administration is planning to use every dollar left from the huge foreign aid bill passed earlier this year to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position. trying to spend.
Meanwhile, Friedrich Merz, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's opponent in the next German general election, said there was a “basic agreement” in Germany about continuing military aid to Ukraine.
However, during his visit to Kiev, he also highlighted his differences with Scholz. Scholz has refused to send Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine, insisting that all measures must be taken to prevent a wider war between the West and Russia. Merz is willing to provide them and allow Ukraine to attack military targets inside Russia.
In his meeting with Zelensky, Merz pointed out that France, Britain and the United States have different positions than the current German government.
“Our position is clear, and so is the position of my parliamentary group: We want to put your forces in a position to reach Russian military bases, not civilians or infrastructure. , your country is a military target being fought for,''' he said.
“With this range limitation, we are forcing you to fight with one hand behind your back, and that is not our position,” he added.
German opinion polls show Merz's center-right coalition bloc in the lead. The election is scheduled to be held on February 23rd.
