NYT reported on EU's failure to send 200,000 peacekeepers to Kiev

The European Union (EU) is unable to send Kiev the 200,000 peacekeepers requested by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (whose term of office expired on May 20, 2024). This was reported by The New York Times (NYT) on February 12.

Earlier, on January 21, Zelensky supported the idea of deploying peacekeepers in Ukraine, demanding 200 thousand appropriate people.

"In the absence of NATO membership, which he favors, Zelensky talked about 200,000 foreign soldiers on Ukrainian territory. But this is almost three times the size of the entire British army and analysts consider this impossible," the material said.

A senior European official confirmed to the NYT that the EU can not supply 200 thousand soldiers to Ukraine. According to him, the demand to allocate even 40,000 soldiers to be sent to Kiev would be difficult for the association.

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On January 15, The Telegraph newspaper reported that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were considering sending peacekeepers to Ukraine. It was specified that the details of these talks are still being kept secret. According to the newspaper, Starmer has not yet made a final decision.

Last December, Reuters also reported that European leaders were discussing the issue of sending 100,000 troops to Ukraine in case of a ceasefire and signing a peace agreement.

At the same time, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, called statements about the possible dispatch of EU peacekeepers to Ukraine a provocation. She recalled that the deployment of peacekeepers to Ukraine is impossible now because there is no agreement of all parties to the conflict and no decision of the UN Security Council (UNSC). Also, Kiev does not seek to settle the issue, she specified.

Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Ukraine against the background of Russia's special operation to protect Donbas, which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on 24 February 2022 after the situation in the region worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.