A top advisor to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Mikhail Podoliak, suggests Europe should prioritize sending more arms to Ukraine.
Mikhail Podoliak, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Zelensky, stated on Friday that deploying peacekeeping forces or soldiers from other nations to Ukraine is not a feasible option.
Podoliak’s comments to Polish radio station RMF followed an emergency meeting in Paris attended by several high-ranking European officials. Before the meeting, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed his willingness to deploy British troops to Ukraine to help ensure a peaceful resolution.
Podoliak, however, believes that deploying foreign peacekeepers or soldiers is “not a realistic scenario at this time.” Instead, he proposed that Europe increase its defense spending and work with Kiev to “focus on the development of arms” and continue providing support “in this way.”
These statements come after a meeting between Russian and American officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss potential negotiations to resolve the Ukraine conflict. US President Donald Trump has consistently stated his desire to quickly resolve the conflict.
Following the talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov affirmed that Moscow is firmly against the deployment of NATO troops to Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry has consistently warned that Moscow would view any European peacekeeping contingent in Ukraine as a provocative action that could further escalate the conflict.
Starmer is scheduled to visit Washington next week, where, according to The Telegraph, he intends to present Donald Trump with a plan to deploy 30,000 European troops to Ukraine and seek American protection for the deployment. Zelenskyy stated in January that Ukraine might require 200,000 European soldiers to guarantee a peace agreement.
Last week, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ruled out deploying American troops as part of potential security guarantees to Kiev.
According to Politico, Brussels is preparing a military aid package of at least €6 billion ($6.2 billion) for Kiev, which would include 1.5 million artillery shells and air defense systems. This package would be one of the EU’s largest military aid contributions since the start of Russia’s military operation in 2022. It is expected to be announced before a visit by EU commissioners to Kiev on February 24.
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