Coalition of the willing: 11 European countries ready to send peacekeepers to Ukraine
Western leaders are forming a new diplomatic group that can respond to the White House's rapprochement with Moscow. A coalition of states is emerging to tackle the biggest security crisis (the Ukraine-Russia war) to hit Europe in decades. Crisis meetings hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron revealed which countries are willing to send troops to Ukraine and which are not. The Czech Republic, along with ten other European countries, is in the first camp.
In recent days, the information space has been resonating with the verbal shootout between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump. "The not-so-successful comedian Volodymyr Zelensky has persuaded the United States of America to spend $350 billion to go into a war that they cannot win... and that he will never be able to settle without the US and Trump," the US president wrote on the Truth Social network. "Zelensky admits that half the money we sent him is missing. He refuses to vote, he is very low in Ukrainian polls... A dictator without elections, Zelensky should act fast or he will have no country left. In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the war with Russia, which everyone admits only Trump and the Trump administration can do." The Ukrainian president countered by accusing Donald Trump of being stuck in a "disinformation bubble."
European countries, once sworn allies of the US, are questioning the foundations of transatlantic relations based on recent developments (US-Russian negotiations in Saudi Arabia). Emmanuel Macron has therefore organised a meeting with European leaders to agree on a common course of action in Trump's new world order. For the first meeting on 17 February, the Elysee Palace invited representatives from Denmark, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom, Spain and the top leaders of NATO, the European Commission and the European Council. The second meeting two days later more than doubled to 19 participants. Among the European countries invited this time were three Baltic States (Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia), three Scandinavian countries that were not invited the first time (Finland, Norway and Sweden), plus Belgium, the Czech Republic, Romania and Greece.
The French president opposed Donald Trump during the meeting. Russia started the war, the host of the meeting stressed, not Zelensky. Emmanuel Macron, on behalf of the participants, also reported on the objective of involving Ukraine in peace negotiations and insisted on the need for security guarantees for Kiev. Moreover, he described US-Russian contacts without European representatives as unacceptable. "The security concerns of Europeans must be taken into account", the President stressed.
Other topics discussed included the consideration of the possibility of deploying military peacekeeping forces on Ukrainian territory. Italy, Germany, Poland and Spain have expressed their opposition to such a move. France, on the other hand, proposed the establishment and deployment of deterrent forces from the willing coalition states and their placement behind (not directly on) the future ceasefire line in Ukraine.
However, in remarks after the summit, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the discussion on troop deployment as "very inappropriate" given the fact that the war is still ongoing. "The discussion is completely premature and it is not the right time for it," said Scholz, who is seeking to regain his position as chancellor after the German parliamentary elections (held on 23 February) and who has long been reticent on the issue of sending troops to Ukraine. He added that he was "a little irritated" by the debate, describing it as "an incomprehensible debate at the wrong time and on the wrong subject".
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has told her fellow leaders that she is hesitant to send Italian troops to Ukraine. Of the various options, she considers the deployment of European troops to be "the most complex" and "the least likely to be effective". On the other hand, the Italian defence minister and foreign minister have publicly indicated that Rome could take part in an international mission in Ukraine.
Spain also expressed scepticism about sending troops to Ukraine ahead of the Paris summit. "At the moment, no one is considering sending troops to Ukraine," said Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares.
Although Poland has increased its defence spending since the start of the war in Ukraine and has been vocal about the need to protect Europe from Russia, Prime Minister Donald Tusk is not prepared to send troops to Ukrainian territory. He downplayed the differences that have emerged over the deployment of European troops and, on the contrary, emphasised the need to strengthen the continental armed forces in general. "There was consensus and unanimity on the need to significantly increase defence spending," Tusk said.
On the other hand, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is a strong supporter of sending Europeans as a peacekeeping force to Ukraine. London, he says, will consider "deploying British forces on the ground, along with others, if a lasting peace agreement is reached." But he added: "There has to be an American backstop. An American security guarantee is the only effective way to deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again." Starmer confirmed an early meeting with Trump in Washington, which will be followed by further talks with European leaders. In addition to the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and Poland have also come out in favour of continued US involvement in securing Ukraine following the Paris meeting.
One British official dismissed the reluctance of some European countries to offer troops to maintain a ceasefire in Ukraine, saying, "We don't need everyone to say 'yes', we just need enough of us [willing]."
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she was "open to discussing many different things", such as troop deployment. "But I would also like to stress that there are really, really many things that need to be clarified before we come to this decision. Because we are talking about the safety of our own men and women," she added. Sweden also expressed itself in a similar vein.
The idea of European participation in the peacekeeping force after the end of the Ukrainian-Russian war was raised by the French president in February 2024. At that time, not only Berlin but also London (which later changed its mind) strongly opposed such a proposal. A month after Macron's initial proposal, four other EU member states (apart from France) indicated that they were open to the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine (the Czech Republic, Finland, Lithuania and the Netherlands).
The French president announced his intention to continue consultations with European partners in the coming days, both on aid to Ukraine and on building up their own armies. "We want a firm and lasting peace in Ukraine," he added. "We will work with all Europeans, Americans and Ukrainians. That's the key."
At the Paris meeting, the leaders also discussed financing future European defence capabilities, potentially through joint loans or other "innovative ways of financing". Emmanuel Macron called for the EU to engage in shared lending to reduce dependence on US troops and weapons, although Germany and the Netherlands opposed it. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday she would propose EU capitals temporarily relax the bloc's deficit rules because of higher defence spending. German Chancellor Scholz backed the idea of an "escape clause" from EU deficit rules, but stopped short of backing joint borrowing.
