Britain and France to Deploy Troops to Ukraine in the event that a Peace Agreement is Finalized

The London and Paris have inked a memorandum of understanding concerning the stationing of military forces in the nation should a peace deal be struck with Moscow, the Prime Minister of Britain, Keir Starmer, has stated.

After discussions with Kyiv's partners in the French capital, he said that the allies would "create military hubs across Ukraine and construct protected structures for military hardware and defense matériel" to prevent any potential invasion.

The coalition members also suggested that the United States would assume leadership in monitoring a ceasefire.

Moscow has on multiple occasions cautioned that any foreign troops in Ukraine would be considered a "legitimate target", but has so far not responded on this latest announcement.

The Situation and Continuing Hostilities

The Kremlin's head Vladimir Putin began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Moscow at this time controls roughly 20% of Ukrainian territory.

"This constitutes a crucial element of our vow to stand with Ukraine for the long-term," remarked Starmer.

National leaders and high-ranking officials from the "Allied Coalition" took part in the Paris negotiations.

He stated at a joint press conference, he further said: "It creates the pathway for the juridical structure under which allied and coalition forces could operate on Ukraine's territory, defending Ukraine's skies and seas, and rebuilding Ukraine's armed forces for the future."

The PM also stated that Britain would participate in any US-led confirmation of a potential truce.

Security Guarantees and Negotiation Stances

Lead American diplomat Steve Witkoff said that "long-term defense assurances and strong reconstruction vows are essential to a lasting peace" in Ukraine – alluding to a key demand made by Ukraine.

Witkoff noted the allies had "mostly completed" their work on finalizing such guarantees "in order that the Ukrainian people know that when this conflict ends, it ends forever."

Donald Trump's son-in-law, US President Donald Trump's advisor, also was involved in the talks.

Separately, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that Ukraine's partners had made "considerable headway" at the talks.

He noted that "robust" defense assurances for Ukraine had been settled upon in the instance of a possible ceasefire.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that a "significant advance" had been made in Paris, but cautioned that he would only consider efforts to be "adequate" if they resulted in the end of the war.

Recently, the Ukrainian leader suggested a peace deal was "mostly finalized". Agreeing on the last 10% would "determine the future of the peace, the destiny of Ukraine and Europe".

Outstanding Matters

• Territory and security guarantees have been at the center of key disagreements for diplomats.
• The Russian President has often said that Kyiv's military must withdraw from all of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region or Russia will take control, dismissing any concession over how to conclude the war.
• Zelensky has so far ruled out giving up any territory, but has proposed that Ukraine could pull back its troops to an mutually accepted point – but only if Russia follows suit.

Russia currently controls about 75% of the Donetsk oblast and around 99% of the adjacent Luhansk. The areas form the area of the Donbas.

The earlier US-led multi-point framework that was extensively reported to the media last year was viewed by Ukraine and its partners in Europe as being disproportionately favorable in Moscow's direction.

This sparked a period of intensive negotiations – with all sides trying to amend the draft.

Last month, Kyiv presented the US an new proposal – as well as distinct documents detailing prospective defense assurances and plans for Ukraine's recovery, Zelensky added.