American Troops Must be Deployed to Ukraine or Russia Won’t be Deterred, Insists Zelensky: Report
Intensifying talk in European capitals about sending peacekeepers to Ukraine’s front lines is welcome but it won’t work without American boots on the ground, President Volodymyr Zelensky says at the Davos World Economic Forum meeting.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has been at Davos this week drumming up support, but also attempting to ingratiate himself with President Donald Trump by acting as a conduit for America First messaging to European leaders. Nevertheless, Bloomberg reports the Ukrainian “bristled” at the suggestion the United States wouldn’t put boots on the ground in Ukraine to deter further Russian aggression.
The conversation follows months of talk in Europe, particularly in capitals like Paris, Warsaw, and London, about what happens when the now apparently inevitable ceasefire comes. Preventing Russia from simply using a pause as a chance to catch its breath, re-arm, and then attack anew after a short break is the main concern and European leaders have told President Zelensky they would want to consider deploying their own armies to Ukraine to prevent Russia from renewing hostilities.
But forward-deploying NATO like this and de facto welcoming Ukraine into its protective embrace wouldn’t work, President Zelensky reportedly told Bloomberg on the side-lines of Davos, without American manpower. He is reported to have said: “It can’t be without the United States… Even if some European friends think it can be, no it can’t be. Nobody will risk without the United States.”
As well as the United States, Zelensky also expressed optimism that China might be persuaded to force Russia to peace, because so much of Russia’s economy and military supply relies on Beijing. While “President Trump is the strongest”, Xi Jinping “can push Putin for peace, I’m sure”.
Perhaps the most involved Western leader in the concept of a multinational peacekeeping force sending troops to face down the Russians in Ukraine has been France’s President Emmanuel Macron, who has been discussing the idea with Zelensky for months, now. Previously, Zelensky has even branded the idea “President Macron’s initiative regarding the presence of forces in Ukraine that could contribute to stabilizing the path to peace”.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has already indicated he will back Macron’s idea, saying the country will play a “full part” in the peacekeeping mission”.
As previously reported, it had been stated by a ‘senior European official’ in December: “if there were a NATO security guarantee, where would the impetus on the ground come from? It would be European so our army chiefs are already preparing plans for European leaders to consider in the future”. But some have expressed doubt over whether European militaries will simply be large enough.
As stated, even a deterrent force of 100,000 troops to Ukraine would “severely stretch European land forces”. Last week, senior retired British Army officers were quick to remind PM Starmer after his peacekeeping force comments that the British military was probably too small to not struggle to play that “full part”, not least if the now barebones remains of the Royal Navy had to be called upon to patrol the Black Sea.
Earlier this month, President Zelensky told a meeting of his NATO donor nations in Germany that he was seeking to “find as many instruments as possible to force Russia into peace”. Of the options available, the “deployment of partners’ contingents is one of the best instruments”, Zelensky said, pleading with the attendees to “be more practical in making it possible”.
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