France to host European army chiefs on March 11 on Ukraine support, says source
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French President Emmanuel Macron (right) meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of a March 6 special European Council meeting to discuss continued support for Ukraine and Europe's defence.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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PARIS - France will on March 11 host talks with military chiefs of staff whose nations are ready to offer Ukraine military support after any peace deal ending the war with Russia, a source close to President Emmanuel Macron said.
With European countries scrambling to boost support an address to the nation
He said a meeting would take place “as early as next week” in Paris of “the chiefs of staff of the countries wishing to take responsibility in this regard”.
The meeting will take place on March 11 in the presence of Mr Macron, said the source, asking not to be named. Further details on the format of the meeting were not immediately available.
It will be held on the sidelines of the Paris Defence and Strategy Forum, organised over three days in the French capital by the defence academy of France’s famed Ecole Militaire military school.
Warning that “Russia can no longer be trusted to keep its word” after its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Mr Macron in his speech also said once a deal is signed Ukraine’s allies must make sure it is “not invaded again by Russia”.
He reaffirmed that European military forces could be sent to Ukraine if a peace accord was signed, to guarantee “respect” of a peace deal.
A peace agreement for Ukraine would be backed “perhaps, by the deployment of European forces,” Mr Macron said.
“They won’t go to fight today, they won’t go to fight on the front line, but they would be there once a peace deal is signed, to guarantee it is fully respected,” he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia was unwavering in its opposition to the deployment of European forces in Ukraine as peacekeepers, suggesting they would not be impartial.
“We see no room for compromise. This discussion is being held with an overtly hostile aim,” he added. AFP
