DID Press: Britain and France announced that they will deploy a multinational “reassurance force” to Ukraine to support defense and reconstruction efforts if a Truce is reached between Russia and Ukraine, following four years of war.
The decision was unveiled on Tuesday after a meeting of dozens of countries in Paris. On the sidelines of the gathering, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed a joint declaration outlining the future deployment of multinational forces, contingent upon the conclusion of a ceasefire with Russia.
Welcoming the move, Zelensky said the initiative carries concrete content rather than rhetoric. “What matters today is that the coalition has produced specific documents and real substance. This is not just talk; it includes a joint declaration and a trilateral statement among France, the United Kingdom and Ukraine,” he said, adding that command structures and management levels for the force have also been defined.
Macron said that “several thousand” French troops could be sent to Ukraine to help maintain peace, stressing that the mission would not be a combat operation and would serve as a “reassurance force.”
Starmer said European allies would participate in monitoring and verifying any ceasefire under U.S. leadership, while long-term military support for Ukraine would continue. “Under a peace agreement, Britain and France would establish protected military hubs and facilities across Ukraine to store and support defensive equipment,” he added.
The initiative comes as Russia has yet to issue an official response. President Vladimir Putin has previously rejected the idea of NATO member forces being stationed on Ukrainian soil. Kyiv, meanwhile, has repeatedly insisted that lasting security is impossible without guarantees equivalent to NATO’s Article 5.
Starmer concluded that peace in Ukraine is “closer than ever,” while cautioning that “the hardest stages” still lie ahead.