Romanian president says peacekeepers in Ukraine should be widely discussed

The issue of sending European peacekeepers to Ukraine is complex and should not be discussed by a narrow circle of countries, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis told journalists on 18 December before the start of the EU-Western Balkans summit.

He thus responded to a question about Romania's position on the issue and why the country did not attend the meeting of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (term expired on May 20), as well as the leaders of Britain, Italy, Poland and France.

"As for sending troops, this was not discussed with me, so I can't report any opinion. If this issue comes up at the level of the European Council or NATO in an all-hands-on-deck format, then Romania will present its opinion <...> This is an extremely complex and extremely weighty matter," Iohannis was quoted as saying on the presidential administration's website.

According to the Romanian leader, he knew about the meeting, but is not aware of who summoned the said states there. Iohannis called it somewhat unusual because NATO should work by consensus. He added that he did not think it was a good solution to discuss complex issues in small groups.

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Earlier in the day, Rutte confirmed a mini-summit on the conflict in Ukraine with EU leaders in Brussels. He said that he decided to gather several leaders of European countries to discuss a number of issues, the main of which is the supply of weapons, mainly air defense.

Prior to that, Reuters reported, citing sources, that European leaders are discussing the issue of sending 100 thousand military to Ukraine in case of a ceasefire and signing a peace agreement. It was noted that France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the UK could form the bulk of the forces. According to these reports, estimates of the required number of troops vary from 40,000 to 100,000, and there is no consensus in Europe on the nature of the mission.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on the eve reiterated the prematurity of discussions on sending peacekeepers to Ukraine as Kiev continues to refuse to negotiate.

Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Kiev amid Russia's special operation to protect 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.