The head of NATO called a meeting about a possible ceasefire in Ukraine

In addition to future security guarantees for Ukraine from its partners, the talks are expected to focus on the potential presence of European peacekeeping troops in the country, the Polish agency PAP reported. She stated that Poland will be represented by its president Andrzej Duda.

The summit of the EU and the Balkan countries will also take place in Brussels on Wednesday, and the regular summit of the twenty-seventh on Thursday. The results of the meeting on a possible ceasefire in Ukraine will probably be discussed there as well.

The American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, citing well-informed sources, wrote that at a recent meeting in Paris, where he arrived for the reopening of the reconstructed Notre-Dame Cathedral after the fire, the President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, told Ukrainian and French Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Emmanuel Macron that soldiers from European countries should supervise the observance of a possible ceasefire in Ukraine.

However, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said after Thursday’s meeting with Macron in Warsaw that Poland does not plan to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine after a possible ceasefire.

Trump, who during the election campaign promised to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours, also said during the meeting in Paris that Europe should play a major role in the defense and support of Ukraine and that he wants European troops present in Ukraine to monitor the ceasefire. He did not rule out at the same time, that the USA will support this arrangement in some way, even if no American soldiers will be involved in it.

Trump also pressed the Europeans to get China to put more pressure on the Kremlin to end the conflict in Ukraine. At the same time, he discussed with Macron the use of tariffs as a means of pressure in case Beijing is reluctant to comply.

Russia and Ukraine differ diametrically in their outlook on a possible ceasefire agreement. In order for the negotiations to take place at all, Russian President Vladimir Putin demands that Ukraine cease its military efforts to recapture the “four new subjects of the Russian Federation”.

It concerns the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. After the February 2022 invasion, Russia partially occupied them and then claimed them as their own in complete violation of international law. At the same time, among other things, he demands that Ukraine undertake not to join NATO.

Zelensky rejected these conditions because they would mean capitulation. On Monday, however, he spoke out in favor of a diplomatic solution, and his statements, according to Reuters, indicate a growing openness to negotiations. At the same time, however, Zelenskyy continues to strive for Ukraine’s entry into the North Atlantic Alliance and for effective security guarantees that will ensure that Russia does not attack the country again.

The spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Marija Zakharovová, who often unofficially presents the views of the Kremlin in addition to the views of Russian diplomacy, warned on Wednesday that no concessions can be expected from Russia. “If someone expects that Russia will make some concessions, then obviously these people do not have enough knowledge, or maybe they have a short memory,” she said.