UK and France Plan to Send Forces to the Country should a Peace Deal is Finalized

The British and French governments have inked a memorandum of understanding concerning the stationing of armed personnel in the nation in the event a ceasefire be struck with Russia, the UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has declared.

Following talks with Kyiv's partners in the French capital, he noted that the UK and France would "create operational bases throughout Ukraine and construct protected facilities for military hardware and equipment" to discourage any potential incursion.

The partner countries also put forward that the United States would assume leadership in verifying a ceasefire.

Russia has on multiple occasions warned that any foreign troops in Ukraine would be considered a "acceptable aim", but has so far not commented on this latest development.

The Situation and Ongoing War

Moscow's leader Vladimir Putin began a comprehensive attack of Ukraine in the start of last year, and Moscow currently occupies roughly 20% of Ukraine's sovereign soil.

"This represents an essential component of our commitment to support Ukraine for the duration," commented the British leader.

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

Addressing reporters at a combined announcement, Starmer noted: "It creates the pathway for the juridical structure under which allied and coalition forces could operate on Ukraine's territory, securing Ukraine's airspace and waters, and rebuilding Ukraine's military for the years ahead."

The British leader added that London would take part in any American-headed monitoring of a prospective cessation of hostilities.

Protection Pledges and Diplomatic Positions

Lead Washington representative Steve Witkoff stated that "long-term security guarantees and robust economic promises are essential to a lasting peace" in Ukraine – referring to a major requirement made by Kyiv.

He said the partner nations had "substantially agreed on" their work on establishing such guarantees "so that the Ukrainian people know that when this hostilities ends, it ends for good."

Donald Trump's son-in-law, US President Donald Trump's special envoy, also was involved in the negotiations.

Separately, President Macron Emmanuel Macron said that Ukraine's allies had made "major advances" at the negotiations.

He noted that "strong" defense assurances for Kyiv had been settled upon in the instance of a possible truce.

Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky commented that a "huge step forward" had been made in the talks, but cautioned that he would only deem efforts to be "enough" if they resulted in the cessation of the conflict.

Last week, he said a settlement was "mostly finalized". Settling the remaining 10% would "shape the future of the agreement, the fate of Ukraine and Europe".

Remaining Challenges

• Land and defense assurances have been at the forefront of key disagreements for negotiators.
• The Russian President has consistently stated that Kyiv's military must retreat from the entirety of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region or Russia will occupy it, rejecting any middle ground over how to end the war.
• Zelensky has to date excluded surrendering any territory, but has suggested that Ukraine could withdraw its forces to an mutually accepted point – but only if Russia does the same.

Moscow currently controls approximately 75% of the Donetsk region and around 99% of the adjacent Luhansk. The areas form the area of Donbas.

The original US-led multi-point framework that was widely leaked to the media last year was seen by Kyiv and its EU supporters as being strongly biased in Russia's favor.

This led to a period of high-level discussions – with all sides trying to adjust the proposal.

Last month, The Ukrainian government submitted the US an updated framework – as well as separate documents outlining potential defense assurances and provisions for Ukraine's reconstruction, Zelensky stated.