LOS ANGELES (OC).–Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the European Union’s “coalition of the willing” security force for a post-war Ukraine involving potentially 26 European countries but didn’t seem to involve the United States. Calling it a “reassurance force,” French President Emmanuel Macron wanted the EU to speak with one voice on future security for Ukraine and the European Continent when it came to the Russian Federation. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharov said the security force said more for European security than anything related to Ukraine. “Foreign, especially European and American” troops “definitely cannot” provide assurances to Kiev, said Peskov. Putin said the presence of any foreign troops on Ukrainian soil would be viewed as enemy combatants, violating agreements to keep NATO forces away from the Russian Federation.
Macron was once on friendly terms with Putin when the EU bought copious amounts of petroleum and natural gas from the Russian Federation. Since the Ukraine War started Feb. 24, 2022, the EU has turned against Russia, hitting Putin with the strongest economic sanctions, actually looking to implement more. President Donald Trump has blamed the EU for sabotaging his peace plans to end the Ukraine War. Trump is the only world leader capable of putting together a peace deal, largely because his personal envoy Steve Witkoff has met with Putin five times and knows what must happen in any peace deal. EU officials reject and conditions for peace in which Ukraine loses sovereign territory to the Kremlin. Putin won’t end the conflict unless he collects spoils of the three-and-a-half year war. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky rejects trading land-for-peace.
So when it comes to Macrons new “reassurances” in a post-war Ukraine, it’s like putting the cart-before-the-horse, because there’s no active peace plan that satisfies both sides. Brussels doesn’t realize that as it stands now, they have agreed to fund Ukraine’s war with the Kremlin. Trump has moved on to restore normal diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation, no longer supporting former President Joe Biden’s proxy war policy with the Kremlin. Trump told Zelensky on several occasions to cut his losses, end the war and start the costly and lengthy rebuilding process. Macron’s summit in Paris was supposed to reassure Zelensky that if he signed a peace deal with Putin, he would have the backing of 26 EU countries to form a security shield to prevent another war from happening with Russia. Trump has been noncommittal about proving security to Ukraine.
Trump wants no part of any security shield in which Ukraine can breach its peace agreement with Russia and the U.S. would have to join the EU in enforcing security. When it comes to offering Ukraine a NATO-like Article 5 security, there would not have to be any boots on the ground in Ukraine. Trump told Zelensky that in any peace deal, he would not accept Ukraine’s NATO membership now or in the future. EU officials are far more ambiguous promising Ukraine at the appropriate time EU membership and possibly NATO membership in the future. EU officials, as it stands now, aren’t willing to rule out Ukraine’s future EU or NATO membership like Trump. Trump knows that Putin will continue the war indefinitely unless Ukraine agrees to remain neutral, not aligned with the EU or NATO. There are many obstacles to a peace deal.
So, it makes you wonder why is Macron discussing post-war security for Ukraine when he has no peace deal in place or even the prospects of one. As it stands now, the EU funds Ukraine’s proxy war with the Kremlin, with the EU agreeing with Zelensky that there can be no territorial concessions to Putin. But are they concessions when Putin controls Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea? Where does the EU think Zelensky can assert control of these regions when he has none? How is the war supposed to stop at anytime in the future when the warring parties don’t agree on the terms-and-conditions or peace? Zelensky and the EU have been adamant that they will not cede any territory to Putin. But Putin controls the territory and it’s not in Ukrainian hands. Putin says he’s fully prepared to keep the war going indefinitely if necessary.
EU leaders have made a real mess of Trump’s peace process that was within 90% of a peace deal with Russia. Zelensky continues to resist the idea of trading land-for-peace because he gets the backing from the EU. If Macron, Merz, Von der Leyen and Starmer told Zelensky to follow Trump’s lead in the peace process, it would be a lot further along. “We have today 26 countries who have formally committed—some other have not yet taken a position—to deploy as ‘resassurance force’ troops in Ukraine, or be present on the ground, in the sea or in the air,” Macron told reporters standing with Zelensky. What good are post-war security arrangement if there’s no peace deal to end the war? “I think that today, for the first ime in a long time, this is the first such serious concrete step,” Zelensky said. But what’s concrete about a post-war plan if there’s no peace plan first?
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
