The United Kingdom and France Plan to Send Military Personnel to Ukraine if a Peace Agreement is Agreed

The London and Paris have signed a memorandum of understanding concerning the deployment of armed personnel in Ukraine in the event a peace agreement be made with Moscow, the Prime Minister of Britain, Starmer, has announced.

Subsequent to talks with Kyiv's partners in the French capital, he said that the UK and France would "create operational bases across Ukraine and build secure installations for arms and defense matériel" to discourage any subsequent attack.

The allied nations also put forward that the America would assume leadership in monitoring a truce.

The Kremlin has on multiple occasions cautioned that any non-Ukrainian military in Ukraine would be considered a "legitimate target", but has so far not responded on this recent development.

The Situation and Ongoing Hostilities

The Kremlin's head Vladimir Putin initiated a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the start of last year, and Russian forces currently occupies approximately 20% of Ukraine's sovereign soil.

"This constitutes a crucial element of our vow to be alongside Ukraine for the foreseeable future," commented the British leader.

Top officials and high-ranking officials from the "Coalition of the Willing" participated in the recent discussions.

Addressing reporters at a joint press conference, Starmer added: "It establishes the framework for the juridical structure under which allied and coalition forces could work on the ground in Ukraine, securing Ukraine's skies and seas, and rebuilding Ukraine's military for the future."

The PM added that London would participate in any Washington-directed monitoring of a prospective truce.

Security Guarantees and Diplomatic Positions

Top American diplomat Steve Witkoff said that "durable safety pledges and strong economic promises are essential to a permanent resolution" in Ukraine – mentioning a major demand made by the Ukrainian government.

He said the allies had "mostly completed" their work on agreeing such pledges "in order that the citizens of Ukraine know that when this conflict ends, it ends for good."

The former US envoy, former American President Donald Trump's advisor, also was involved in the discussions.

Separately, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that Ukraine's supporters had made "major progress" at the negotiations.

He noted that "robust" security guarantees for Ukraine had been agreed in the instance of a prospective ceasefire.

Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky commented that a "significant advance" had been made in the talks, but qualified that he would only deem efforts to be "adequate" if they culminated in the end of the conflict.

Recently, he said a peace deal was "largely prepared". Settling the remaining 10% would "determine the fate of peace, the destiny of Ukraine and Europe".

Remaining Challenges

• Sovereign soil and security guarantees have been at the center of key disagreements for negotiators.
• Moscow has repeatedly warned that Ukrainian troops must pull back from all of Ukraine's eastern Donbas or Russia will occupy it, dismissing any concession over how to conclude the war.
• The Ukrainian President has to date rejected surrendering any land, but has proposed that Ukraine could withdraw its forces to an designated point – but only if Russia reciprocates.

Russian forces presently occupies about 75% of the Donetsk region and around 99% of the bordering Luhansk. The two regions form the industrial region of the Donbas.

The earlier US-led 28-point proposal that was extensively reported to the media last year was seen by Ukraine and its EU supporters as being heavily skewed in Russia's direction.

This sparked a period of intensive discussions – with Ukraine, the US and European leaders trying to amend the proposal.

Last month, Kyiv sent the US an new framework – as well as separate documents outlining prospective defense assurances and plans for Ukraine's rebuilding, the President said.