PARIS, December 24. /TASS/. French President Emmanuel Macron and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte have discussed efforts by the so-called Coalition of the Willing to provide security guarantees to Ukraine, the French leader said on the X social media platform.

"I met with Mark Rutte to review the situation in Ukraine and the progress of the work being carried out within the framework of the Coalition of the Willing. Beginning in January in Paris, we will continue these efforts with a view to providing Ukraine with strong security guarantees, which are an essential condition to achieving a robust and lasting peace," he pointed out.

The previous meeting of the so-called Coalition of the Willing took place on December 11. The participating countries discussed ways to provide security guarantees to Kiev after the conflict is over. European leaders issued a statement on December 15, saying that the security guarantees should involve the creation of "a European-led ‘multinational force Ukraine’ made up from contributions from willing nations within the framework of the Coalition of the Willing and supported by the US."

Moscow strongly opposes the presence of troops from NATO countries in Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on August 21 that a move to provide security guarantees to Ukraine "through foreign military intervention on some part of Ukrainian soil" would be unacceptable for Russia.