LOS ANGELES ()C).–Meeting in Paris today to discuss post-war security arrangements, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova served notice that Russia would not accept EU or NATO troops on Ukrainian soil. “Russia does not intend to discuss unacceptable foreign intervention in Ukraine in any form whatsoever,” Zakharova said in comments posted by the Foreign Ministry. “Western war instigators view Ukraine as a testing ground for their military development,” said Zakharova, saying the presence of EU or NATO troops in Ukraine would be strictly prohibited. French President Emmanuel Macron said details of any post-war security arrangement have been keep closely guarded, something bound to come out once the meeting takes place. Moscow has said repeatedly that EU or NATO forces in Ukraine would be an unacceptable arrangement.
Zelensky has wanted from Day One to be part of NATO, something denied because of Ukraine’s ongoing war with the Kremlin. Former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine did not qualify for NATO membership because they lacked a democratic government. Zakharova said the security guarantees dissussed said more about Europe’s security than Ukraine. What’s become abundantly clearly lately is that the EU cannot distinguish its own security from Ukraine. German Chancellor Freiedrich Merz and EU Council President Ursula von der Leyeny talk about post-Ukrain security as if it’s the EU’s problem not Ukraine’s. Merz and von der Leyen have spoken more harshly about Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling him a war criminal and predator. With talk like that, it’s no wonder there’s no progress on a peace deal.
President Donald Trump vacillated between anger toward Putin and Zelensky, not sure why there’s so much resistance to his peace plan. Only recently Merz described the EU position saying that any loss in Ukraine would embolden Puitn to take new actions in the EU. Zelensky has been telling the EU, and anyone else who would listen, that Putin has his eyes set on EU countries once he gets territorial concessions on Ukraine. Merz said Germany opposed ceding any land to Ukraine because it encourages Putin to extend his aggression in the EU. Putin has never said that he wants to seize any countries in Europe or, for that matter, to take on NATO. Yet Zelensky keeps repeating the same claptrap to the EU that Putin has he eyes set on other EU countries after Ukraine. Brussels can’t decide whether it wants peace or to subsidize Ukraine’s war with the Kremlin.
Zakharova said the security guarantees discussed in Paris are more for the EU than they are for Ukraine. Security guarantees “are not security guarantees for Ukraine, they are guarantees of there at the European Continent,” said Zakharova, in a maddening twist on pos-war security. There’s no discussion of the kinds of compromises needed to make to bring about a workable peace deal only talk of post-war arrangements. If Zelensky won’t compromise with Putin, there will be no end to the Ukraine War. Putin made it clear speaking in Beijing that if Zelensky and the EU won’t compromise on a peace plan, then he’ll have no choice but to finish the war militarily. Does the EU really want to go to war with the Kremlin because Zelensky refuses to compromise on any peace deal? Trump told Zelensky he needed to trade land-for-peace to get a deal.
Taking the lead in post-war security, French President Emmanuel Macron talked about the highly secret nature of the EU’s discussions on post-Ukraine War security. “We are ready as Europeans to offer security guarantees to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, the day a peace deal is signed,” Macron said, standing next to Zelensky. “The contributions that were prepared, documented and confirmed this afternoon at the level of defense ministers in an extremely confidential manner alow me to say the preparatory work is completed,” Macron said, without specifying any details about the plan. But knowing Putin’s objections to permitting EU or NATO troops in Ukraine, the arrangement most likely resembles NATO’s Article 5, where if one country is attacked the rest of the alliance comes to its rescue. So, it looks like Macron has developed an Article 5 security arrangement.
EU officials led by Macron have a lot to think about, considering there’s no peace deal in place with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz opposed to Zelensky ceding any land to Putin to end the war. How’s the war supposed to end to implement any post-war security arrangement if the war never ends? Macron and other EU officials have put the cart-before-the-horse, not having any peace deal in place or consensus on what it’s going to take to end the war. If you listen to Zelensky he’s not interested in ceding land to the Kremlin to end the war. Putin isn’t going to end the war unless he gets parts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea. Zelensky can say he won’t cede territory to Russia but at what price? Marcon and his EU colleagues must figure out how long they expect to fund Ukraine’s war with the Kremlin. If there’s no compromise, then the war could go on indefinitely.
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.
