WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Zelenskiy says security guarantee would need at least 200,000 peacekeepers

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is seeking a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, said on Tuesday that at least 200,000 European peacekeepers would be needed to prevent a new Russian attack after any ceasefire deal.

The Ukrainian leader, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland a day after Trump returned to power following months of promises to end the war in Ukraine quickly, also urged European leaders to do more to defend the continent.

The prospect of a rapid settlement has focused minds in Kyiv and Europe on the urgent need for security guarantees to prevent any future Russian attack, with the idea of peacekeeping force circulating.

"From all the Europeans? 200,000, it's a minimum. It's a minimum, otherwise it's nothing," Zelenskiy said when asked about the idea of a peacekeeping contingent on an interview panel after delivering his speech.

That number is around the size of the entire French armed forces, estimated at just over 200,000 by France's defence ministry in 2020. Zelenskiy said at least that number would be needed as a security guarantee if Russia's armed forces totalled 1.5 million personnel and Ukraine had only half that number.

Zelenskiy said such a force would only be part of the security guarantees that Ukraine needed.

TRUMP MEETING

The Ukrainian leader said Kyiv was working to set up a meeting between himself and Trump.

"The teams have been working on a meeting, they are currently in the process," Zelenskiy said about those efforts.

Trump, who returned to office on Monday, has said he would stop the war in Ukraine swiftly, without saying how.

Zelenskiy said Ukraine would not agree to Russian demands that it drastically reduce the size of its military, predicting that Russian President Vladimir Putin would demand Ukraine cut its armed forces to a fifth of their size.

"This is what he wants. We will not allow this to happen," Zelenskiy said.

In his speech, Zelenskiy said Europe must make itself a strong global player, able to guarantee peace and security for itself and for others. He suggested Europe had less influence over Washington because the United States viewed its allies' contribution to security as lacking.

"Does anyone in the United States worry that Europe might abandon them someday – might stop being their ally? The answer is no," Zelenskiy said.

He said that Europeans needed to devise a united security and defence policy and alluded to a pre-inauguration remark by Trump, who proposed a massive hike in defence spending for NATO members to 5% of GDP.

"If it takes 5% of GDP to cover defence, then so be it, 5% it is. And there is no need to play with people's emotions that defence should be compensated at the expense of medicine or pensions – that's not fair," Zelenskiy said.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine conflict ‘needs to end’ – Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that US President Donald Trump will begin working on a ceasefire agreement for Ukraine “almost immediately.”

Rubio was the first high-level cabinet member of the new Trump administration to be confirmed by the Senate on Monday following Trump’s inauguration.

Speaking to journalists shortly afterwards, Rubio said Ukraine will be a “top priority” for Trump and that efforts to reach a ceasefire will begin straight away, but did not give a specific timeframe for ending the conflict with Russia.

Some of the groundwork has “already been laid,” Rubio said, adding that it will be a complicated process. “I mean, it’s a complex conflict and a bloody one, and it needs to end,”CNN quoted him as saying.

Rubio insisted that both Ukraine and Russia will have to concede “something” as part of any deal, but he did not elaborate on what such concessions might be. Asked for specifics, Rubio said negotiations with such high stakes “are best conducted through diplomacy” rather than public forums.

“Obviously the countries involved, both the Russians and the Ukrainians, will have to make ultimate decisions about what they agreed to,”Rubio said.

During his campaign for president, Trump had repeatedly promised to resolve the Ukraine conflict within “24 hours” if returned to the White House. Asked on Monday following his inauguration whether he would keep that promise, Trump joked that he had “half a day left.”

Trump also reiterated his willingness to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin with a view to finding a diplomatic settlement of the crisis, saying that he wants to get it done “as quickly as possible” and that the conflict “should never have started.”

CNN reported on Monday that Trump has instructed aides to set up a phone call with Putin within the first few days of his term. The call is expected to lay the groundwork for meetings aimed at ending the conflict over the coming months, CNN said. Responding to that report on Tuesday, Putin’s foreign-policy aide Yuri Ushakov said that Moscow had not been contacted by the White House yet.

Putin extended good wishes to Trump ahead of his inauguration on Monday, saying he “welcomes” the new president’s comments about wanting to restore relations with Moscow and “the need to do everything to prevent World War Three.”

Moscow remains committed to its principles and believes that dialogue must be built on an “equal and mutually respectful basis,” Putin said.

Reuters/RT