BRUSSELS, February 24. /TASS/. French President Emmanuel Macron is going to present to his US counterpart Donald Trump a plan on deploying the European military contingent in Ukraine to show that it has "things to offer," Politico’s European edition said, citing EU diplomatic sources.
"This includes a European contribution of some 30,000 troops, with the UK and France taking the lead there," the media outlet cited a European diplomat as saying. According to its information, Ukraine's allies want to create a "counterforce" to the Russian narrative on Ukraine and demonstrate that the EU has its own ideas about the Ukrainian settlement. According to a French presidential aide, Macron will arrive in Washington with some "action proposals" that have been discussed with other European leaders, including the United Kingdom.
Politico noted that French diplomats also hope that the French president will manage to convince Trump that preserving trade ties with Europe and ensuring its security remains in the US’ interests. "The president is one of the rare leaders who has real experience [of interacting with Trump] and who worked closely with Trump during his first mandate," said a French presidential aide.
According to Politico, Macron has all chances to assure the US leader that "Europe is increasingly serious about beefing up defense spending." That said, it is still unclear whether these assurances are sufficient "to placate Trump and buy Europe more time to agree on a plan for Ukraine and the continent's collective defense."
US president will meet with Macron in Washington on February 24. He will also meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on February 27. Earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources, that Starmer may present a draft version of a plan to deploy British and French peacekeepers to Ukraine within the framework of settling the conflict. On February 17, Starmer said that the potential deployment of EU forces to Ukraine must be supported by guarantees on the part of Washington. In turn, Trump said that he was not against European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine, while the US administration repeatedly stressed that the participation of the US contingent is out of the question.
Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told TASS that Russia has a negative attitude regarding the idea of deploying European peacekeepers in Ukraine. According to him, this is a step toward escalation.