MOSCOW, January 22. /TASS/. Vladimir Zelensky said he would like to see US troops as part of a potential peacekeeping force in Ukraine, as Europe does not have enough soldiers and would not risk such deployment otherwise.
Zelensky was appealing to US President Donald Trump ahead of talks with Russia, Bloomberg reported. European allies can’t muster up enough servicemen to pose a realistic deterrent and any other solution could risk opening up divisions within NATO, he said.
"It can’t be without the United States," Zelensky told Bloomberg. "Even if some European friends think it can be, no it can’t be. Nobody will risk without the United States."
According to the Wall Street Journal, US President Donald Trump has tasked his special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, with ending the Ukrainian conflict within 100 days. Trump did not rule out that the US could bring its weapons supplies to Ukraine to a complete stop, and also declared he was ready to meet with the Russian president "at any time."
Putin earlier said Moscow is open for talks on Ukraine with the new US administration, but signaled that it is crucial to remove the root causes of the crisis. He reiterated that Russia took note of the statements by Trump and his team about the desire to restore communication and do their best to prevent a Third World War.
The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service said the West plans to take control of Ukraine under the guise of deploying peacekeepers. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on that statement by saying the sides of the conflict in Ukraine need to give their consent to a deployment of a peacekeeping force to make it possible.