Merz Prioritizes Ceasefire Before Foreign Troops in Ukraine

(MENAFN) German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated on Thursday that a truce between Ukraine and Russia is a fundamental prerequisite for the deployment of international forces, stressing that the world remains “far off” from such a scenario and that this vision “simply does not work without the consent of Russia.”

His remarks followed the ‘coalition of the willing’ gathering in Paris on Tuesday, where UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron declared they had signed a statement of intent to send forces to Ukraine and establish “military hubs” throughout the country should a peace accord with Moscow be reached. This comes despite Russia’s repeated insistence that it categorically rejects the presence of Western troops in its neighboring state.

“The order should be as follows: first a ceasefire, then security guarantees for Ukraine as a condition for a long-term agreement with Russia. None of this is possible without Russia's consent. And we're probably still a long way from that,” Merz explained during a press briefing in Seeon, located in Bavaria’s southern region.

He further noted that any additional steps toward deploying German forces would require approval by the federal government and authorization from the Bundestag, Germany’s lower parliamentary chamber.

According to the plan presented in Paris, Britain and France would station troops to construct secure weapons facilities and participate in US-led ceasefire monitoring. The contingent was described as non-combat personnel numbering “potentially thousands.”

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