Media reported on Macron and Tusk's plan to discuss sending peacekeepers to Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron will discuss the deployment of peacekeeping forces in Ukraine with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk during their meeting in Warsaw on Thursday, December 12. This was reported by Politico newspaper on December 11, citing sources.

"It's true," a Polish unnamed diplomat confirmed, when asked by the publication whether the two countries were in talks about a potential 40,000-strong peacekeeping force.

The official said, however, that participants in the discussions were surprised by news of Macron's proposal.

"This is not a formula that would allow us to make such a decision," he said, adding that the dispatch of peacekeeping missions should be approved within the UN or the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), not in a bilateral discussion between the leaders.

According to the source, sending Polish troops to Ukraine "would make sense only in the NATO format".

Scholz's visit to Kyiv and prospects for peace in Ukraine. What the media say

Earlier, on 5 December, German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock said at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels that a German peacekeeping contingent could be sent to Ukraine after the conflict ends in order to further settle the situation. The German minister added that such an option of "an international presence to enforce the ceasefire" could be considered together with security guarantees for Kiev as a NATO member.

On the same day, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, speaking in the Bundestag, said that in the current situation the FRG would not send its troops to Ukraine.

German chancellor candidate and head of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Friedrich Merz, commenting on Berbock's words, severely criticized her "mind game" and called her idea irresponsible speculation.

Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Kiev amid Russia's special operation to defend Donbass, which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, after the situation in the region worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.