NEW YORK, May 13. /TASS/. The United States is discussing with its allies a plan to settle the conflict in Ukraine, which would involve deploying a deterrence force west of the Dnieper River comprising contingents from four European countries, US Special Envoy on Ukraine Keith Kellogg announced.
"This is, for sure, what they call the E3, but it’s actually now E4. What we talk about - the British, the French, as well as the Germans, and now actually the Poles, have a force west of the Dnieper River, which means it’s out of contact range, and into the East, you have a peacekeeping force, <…> so you can actually monitor the ceasefire," he told Fox Business in an interview.
Kellogg noted that starting positions in negotiations on the territorial issue should begin with freezing the conflict along the lines of contact. "We talk about <…> the nuclear power plant, which is the third largest in Europe. We talk who's going to run that, we've said repeatedly we would assist in opening that plant up," he added.
Earlier, in a joint statement, the foreign ministers of the UK, Spain, Italy, Poland, France, Germany and the EU, following consultations in London, indicated they were "committed to robust security guarantees for Ukraine," which includes "exploring the creation of a coalition of air, land and maritime reassurance forces that could help create confidence in any future peace and support the regeneration of Ukraine's armed forces."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has repeatedly stated that the presence of NATO troops under any flag and in any capacity on Ukrainian soil is a threat to Russia and that Moscow will not accept it under any conditions.