Makes you smile that, a bit like it has passed by the name Rearm Europe to Readiness For the rearmament plan of Ursula von der Leyen to make it more digestible to the European electorate, now Macron also games with words. Instead of the classic “interposition force”, we are at the “reassurance force. But what will it do, in detail? Mystery. At the moment we only know that they will base” in some strategic places “of Ukraine” in case of peace “. These forces” will have a character of dissuasion against a potential Russian aggression “, but” they will not be destined to be forces of maintenance of peace, they will not be present on the contact line or destined to replace the Ukrainian army “. Translated? We put some soldier here and there, to do nothing, in the hope that their presence suggests to Putin not to attack Kiev again. A bit like the proposal of Donald Trump to take control of the energy central Ukrainian.
No unanimous agreement between the participating countries
During the top to the Elysée, in which 31 delegations participated, including Ukraine, Germany and Italy, A unanimous agreement has not been reached on sending troops. “Some countries do not have the ability to do it, others do not have the political context that allows them to agree,” explained Macron. Italy has already declared that it does not want to join the initiative.
A Franco-British mission in Ukraine in the next few days
Negotiated that Europe looks from afar, not being in fact sitting at the table (there was no EU leader in Riad), and also with a certain suspicion. Macron made him understand just yesterday: “Difficult to say that peace negotiations would be underway-he said-when these parallel discussions led to three distinct press releases that say three different things: an American-Ukrainian press release, an American-Russian press release and a Russian press release still different from the previous one”.
Russian penalties remain in force
All leaders present at the top agreed on maintaining the penalties to Russia. “It’s not yet time to revoke them,” said British Premier Keir Starmer. Macron added that Russia “pretends to open negotiations to discourage the opponent and intensify its attacks”. Meanwhile, France has promised additional military aid to Ukraine for 2 billion euros.
Russia’s reactions
Moscow immediately rejected the hypothesis of a European force in Ukraine. The spokesman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharovaaccused France and Great Britain of “devising plans for military intervention masked by peace mission”. In the meantime, new Russian attacks have hit the city of Kherson, causing civil victims.
Ukraine asks for continuous support
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, present at the top, thanked the partners for support. However, he underlined the need for “specific responses” on the deployment of force. “We have to know which countries will participate, where they will operate and with what means,” he said, “there are still many questions and few answers about the actions of this contingent, his duties, what he can do, as can be used, who will be responsible for it”. Zelensky has also warned that, according to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia would be preparing new offensive in the regions of Sumy, Kharkiv and Zaporizia.
TheVermilion.com is also on WhatsApp. Simply click here to register for the channel and always be updated (free).