Germany, Poland and Spain refuse to send peacekeepers to Ukraine
18 February 10:07
Germany, Poland and Spain have refused to send their troops to Ukraine as part of a possible peacekeeping mission to monitor the ceasefire. These are the results of an emergency meeting of European leaders in Paris, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports, citing The Telegraph.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz even left the talks early, sharply criticizing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ‘s proposal to deploy European troops to Ukraine as part of a peace deal.
“It is absolutely premature and wrong to have this discussion now. I am even a little bit annoyed by this debate,”
– scholz told reporters.
According to him, the discussion of the possible deployment of European troops is being conducted “over the heads of Ukrainians about the results of peace talks that have not even begun yet.”
“This is extremely inappropriate, to be blunt and honest – we don’t even know what the outcome will be,”
– the Chancellor added.
Positions of other parties
The positions of the countries are divided: Germany, Poland, and Spain refused to send troops to Ukraine, while Britain, France, and Sweden supported the idea.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said:
“Europe has a role to play, and I am prepared to consider sending British troops on the ground with others if a lasting peace agreement is reached. But there must be an American backstop, because security guarantees from the United States are the only way to effectively deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said:
“We are not ready to send troops to defend Kyiv. But we will support, including in terms of logistics and political support, states that may want to provide such guarantees in the future.”
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares emphasized that he is not considering sending troops to Ukraine either.
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Masters of verbal equilibristics
However, the greatest masters of political verbal equilibristics were representatives of Germany.
Thus, a government source in Berlin stated that they would not send troops to Ukraine “without the full participation of the United States.”
“We will not participate in scenarios in which European and American security [policies] diverge,” the source said,
– the source said.
In other words, if the United States is “draining” Ukraine, then Germany is too.
The US ultimatum to Europe
The Munich Security Conference 2025 came as a real shock to many and a cold shower to European politicians after US representatives voiced their vision of the future security model in Europe and the world. In particular, US Vice President Jay DeVance ‘s speech was about Europe no longer relying on the US security umbrella, as the US will no longer guarantee it. The Europeans were also told that Ukraine’s security after the ceasefire with Russia will also be on their shoulders, as it concerns European affairs, from which the United States is withdrawing.
And now the United States does not even “physically” see Europe at the table with Russia.
Against this backdrop, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for the creation of the European Armed Forces.
Europeans were shocked by this turn from the United States. On Sunday, EU ministers urgently met to discuss the situation. Ukraine was not invited to the meeting in Paris.
Negotiations in Saudi Arabia
On Tuesday, February 18, representatives of the United States and Russia are scheduled to meet in Saudi Arabia for preliminary talks on a truce in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Until now, it was unclear whether Ukraine’s representatives would participate. Some sources reported that they would. Three rounds of talks were supposed to take place:
- US – Russia;
- The United States – Ukraine;
- Ukraine – the United States – Russia.
Obviously, this information turned out to be unreliable, or the arrangements have changed, and there will be no Ukrainian representatives at the table. There are no Europeans at the talks either – the US did not invite them.
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