Europe ready to lead ‘multinational force’ in Ukraine, EU leaders say | Ukraine

Europe is ready to lead a “multinational force” in Ukraine as part of a US proposal for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, European leaders have said.

The leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany and eight other European countries said in a statement that troops from the “coalition of the willing” with U.S. support could “help replenish Ukrainian forces, secure Ukrainian skies and support safer seas, including operating within Ukraine.”

US and European leaders said the offer was part of a new package of security guarantees backed by the White House and could be a significant breakthrough in reaching a peace deal between Moscow and Kiev. However, they added that significant differences remain regarding the future status of Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia.

Under the proposal, Ukraine would have Western support to maintain a standing army of 800,000 soldiers, the United States would lead a “ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism” to provide early warning of any future attack, and European countries would also sign “a legally binding commitment, subject to national procedures, to take measures to restore peace and security in the event of a future armed attack.” Europe will also support Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.

The agreement would effectively provide Ukraine with “Article 5-like” guarantees, according to two U.S. officials briefed on the negotiations and compared the security guarantees to guarantees provided to NATO allies against foreign attacks.

The US presented the new package in Berlin this week during talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as senior diplomats and security officials from its European allies. U.S. officials have said they believe Russia will accept the security guarantees offered in the talks, which would mark a significant relaxation of the Kremlin’s demands for limits on the size of the Ukrainian military and opposition to troops from NATO countries operating in Ukraine.

The American delegation, led by US envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, said Zelenskyy and European leaders responded positively to the White House’s offer of security guarantees similar to those given to NATO allies and aimed to prevent Russia from continuing its invasion if a peace deal is reached.

“I think the Ukrainians, like the Europeans, will tell you this is the most robust set of security protocols they’ve ever seen,” said a U.S. official briefed on the negotiations. “This is a very, very strong package. I think the Russians will look at this and say to themselves: ‘That’s okay, because we have no intention of doing so.’ [of restarting the war].’ We will trust their words.”

U.S. officials have refused to provide details about what the security package would include and who would defend Ukraine if Russia continues its occupation after the peace deal is reached. They confirmed that the United States would not put boots on the ground in Ukraine as part of the agreement.

However, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said at a press conference on Monday that he believed the two sides were the closest to a real peace process since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.

“What the United States has put on the table here in Berlin in terms of legal and material guarantees is truly remarkable,” Merz said at a joint press conference with Zelenskyy.

Ukraine’s president said he welcomed “productive” discussions, while Kiev’s chief peace negotiator praised “real progress” in the second round of talks in Berlin.

Security guarantees are seen as a key factor in a potential peace deal. British prime minister Keir Starmer has previously said a deal between Russia and Ukraine would fail if it did not include “robust” security guarantees from the west.

“It’s really important that we deal with this in detail,” he said. “[Vladimir] Putin has shown time and time again that he will keep coming back for more if he sees the opportunity.”

US officials said on Monday that they were still “brainstorming” about the future status of Ukraine’s occupied territories under the peace deal, adding that they were considering the areas becoming an “economic free zone”. However, they said significant differences remained over the control and status of the regions captured by Russia.

“After all, if we can define it, then we really [Russia and Ukraine] A US official briefed on the talks said: “To resolve final issues regarding sovereignty and to see if an agreement can be made between them.”

The two sides also did not reach an agreement on the future activities of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is located in Ukraine but is under Russian control. US officials said that they wanted the two parties to share the electricity produced by the power plant on a “50/50” basis. US negotiators claimed they had resolved “90 percent” of the disputes between the Russian and Ukrainian sides.

Zelenskyy said that talks with the US side were “not easy” but they were making progress. He said Russia was using its relentless strikes as leverage in negotiations and noted that not a single power station in Ukraine had been spared attack.

Rustam Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, also struck an optimistic note about the discussions: “Over the past two days, Ukrainian-US negotiations have been constructive and productive, and real progress has been achieved,” he said.

Umerov wrote in X that Witkoff and Kushner “worked extremely constructively to help Ukraine find a path to a lasting peace agreement.”

A German government spokesman said earlier that Witkoff and Kushner were also invited to the working lunch. Witkoff said in a social media post that “a lot of progress was made” after he and Kushner met with Zelenskyy for five and a half hours at Merz’s chancellery on Sunday, but did not elaborate.

A. Photo released by Merz’s team It showed him sitting next to Zelenskyy across the table from Witkoff and Kushner as a gesture of solidarity, but the chancellor did not attend their meeting.

Trump appeared increasingly impatient to end the four-year campaign, which he first aimed for by Thanksgiving in late November. Zelenskyy, US leader Targeting Christmas as a deadline for a “full understanding” of the peace plan.

The search for viable terms to end the war has faced major obstacles, including a dispute over control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces.

On Sunday, Zelenskyy expressed his country’s readiness to abandon its bid to join NATO if the United States and other western nations give Kiev legally binding security guarantees similar to those offered to alliance members.

He also said he hoped Washington would agree to freeze the front line in place, rather than Ukraine abandoning the entire Donbas region of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

Putin described Ukraine’s push to join NATO as a major threat to Moscow’s security and a reason for launching the full-scale invasion in February 2022. “Naturally, this issue is one of the cornerstones and is of course subject to private discussion,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday, adding that Moscow expects a briefing from the United States once the Berlin discussions are over.

European leaders emphasized that the outcome of the talks on Ukraine will affect their countries’ security for decades to come. Merz said over the weekend that Putin’s goal is “a radical change of borders in Europe, the restoration of the former Soviet Union within its own borders.”

“If Ukraine falls, it will not stop,” the German Chancellor said at a conference with conservative friends in Munich.

Russia has denied that it intends to attack NATO members.

Meanwhile in London, the head of Britain’s foreign spy service, MI6, warned that Russia posed an “aggressive, expansionist” threat in his first speech since taking office.

Blaise Metreweli took over from Richard Moore in October and became the first woman to lead MI6.

He stated that Putin was not serious about trying to end the war in Ukraine, describing him as someone who “draws out negotiations” and puts the burden of the conflict on his own people.

Meanwhile, the EU is trying this week to agree on a plan to finance Ukraine in the coming years using frozen Russian assets. The leaders’ meeting is scheduled to begin on Thursday and an agreement remains elusive.