Zelenskyy: Ukraine supports peacekeeping mission, but not as substitute for NATO membership

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that the deployment of European peacekeepers in Ukraine is possible but should not preclude Ukraine’s future membership of NATO.

Source: an interview with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Olena Zelenska on the 24/7 national joint newscast on 2 January, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Zelenskyy said that Ukraine supported French President Emmanuel Macron's initiative to deploy a French contingent in Ukraine.

Quote from Zelenskyy: "But France alone is not enough. We would not want it to be one or two countries if it came to this initiative. It should definitely be on our path to NATO membership. This does not mean that the deployment of European forces precludes our future in NATO."  

More details: Zelenskyy noted that in addition to France, the idea of a contingent might be supported by the United Kingdom "and some other countries that we agreed not to talk about it out loud with… they are worried about announcing it in the media now as they are afraid of Russia's influence."

The president also mentioned that the idea of European peacekeepers was raised during his meeting with Macron and US President-elect Donald Trump.

"I saw that Trump was positive about this idea. But I raised the issue that we have not yet heard which specific countries would be among these forces, and whether the United States would be one of them," Zelenskyy added.

Background:

• Earlier, Zelenskyy admitted that the idea of deploying a peacekeeping mission to Ukraine as a deterrent against a new Russian attack had been discussed at meetings in Brussels, and said he was already "seeing positive things" from some leaders.

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