European nations are secretly preparing a plan to send troops to Ukraine, according to AP.

A group of European nations is quietly working on a plan to deploy troops to Ukraine, aiming to provide security guarantees for any future peace settlement with Russia.

Source. This is reported by Associated Press.

The United Kingdom and France are leading this initiative, although specifics are not being disclosed to avoid giving Putin an advantage in upcoming negotiations.

“I will not go into specific possibilities, but I agree that if there is peace [with Russia], Ukraine needs some security guarantees, and the UK will play its role in this,” said UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as quoted by the publication.

Currently, the parameters of a potential military mission by European countries in Ukraine remain unclear, with much depending on the conditions of any peace agreement, reports AP.

“We are at a very early stage,” stated Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur in the corridors of the Munich Security Conference.

He added that if Ukraine and Russia reduce their troop numbers along the front line to “a few thousand” on both sides, then “it would not be a problem for Europe to also be there.”

Pevkur also noted that it would be much more complicated if fighting continues. Given the current situation on the front lines, Europeans would need to deploy a “powerful and significant” contingent in Ukraine, rather than a group of peacekeepers like the UN’s “blue helmets,” experts believe.

The idea of sending European contingents to Ukraine was first voiced by French President Emmanuel Macron at the beginning of 2024. Following this, the leadership of France, the UK, and Poland discussed the troop deployment plan several times, and in December, after being elected as President of the United States, Donald Trump approved the idea of placing European troops in Ukraine to monitor the ceasefire.

At that time, according to AP, a group of leaders and ministers from European countries met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the residence of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Brussels, likely to discuss this issue with him. Notably, countries present included the UK, Germany, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and France, along with senior officials from the European Union.

Macron's plan, which initially seemed isolated on the European stage, has since gained traction, writes AP.

Background. Meanwhile, let us remind you that Zelensky stated in Munich that instead of joining NATO, Ukraine should have a 1.5-million-strong army, and eventually all NATO member countries would want such a powerful army to be part of the alliance, noted Zelensky.