“Britain and France won’t be able to deploy troops to Ukraine without Russia’s consent,” – says Merz

Without Russia’s consent, the UK and France will not be able to send their troops to Ukraine.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a speech.

According to him, the memorandum signed by Ukraine, France, and the United Kingdom envisages the deployment of peacekeepers only after the war ends, which would require reaching an agreement with Russia.

“There is a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine regarding troops in Ukraine. However, I want to state clearly here, so there are no misunderstandings, that we are talking about security guarantees after a ceasefire. No one—no EU member state or any country outside the EU—believes we should enter Ukraine now to intervene in the current conflict. The sequence must be as follows: first, a ceasefire; then security guarantees for Ukraine; and only after that a long-term agreement with Russia. And all of this, of course, is impossible without Russia’s consent—which we are probably still quite far from,” Merz said.

As a reminder, amid discussions about sending military contingents to Ukraine, Russia once again threatened to strike them.