Merz on What He Thinks About the Resolve of France and England to Send Troops to Ukraine

A long-term agreement with Russia must precede the decision to send European troops to Ukraine, said the German Chancellor. No European country is saying it plans to send soldiers to Ukraine now.

Before a long-term agreement with Russia on peace in Ukraine, "it seems, we are still quite far away," said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. However, such an agreement must precede the decision to deploy Western troops in Ukraine as a security guarantee, Merz stated while speaking at a meeting of the parliamentary faction of the Christian Social Union (CSU) at the Bavarian monastery of Seeon on Thursday, January 8.

There Is No Talk of Europeans Joining the Ongoing War

The head of the German government emphasized that there is no talk of European forces joining the ongoing war. "We are talking about security guarantees after a ceasefire," Friedrich Merz explained. No EU country is saying that it plans to send soldiers to Ukraine right now, he added.

"Everything possible is being done to put an end to this war," Merz further noted. "But in this case, it is only about military support for peace, an agreement on a ceasefire." The Chancellor made it clear that Germany is ready to provide its own security guarantees, including through the participation of the Bundeswehr.

According to Merz, the decision on the specific form of the Bundeswehr's involvement in security guarantees for Ukraine depends not only on him personally. A government decision and a mandate from the Bundestag are necessary for this. "I want us in the coalition to reach an understanding of what path we are ready to choose if necessary," he noted.

The Russian Foreign Ministry Called Foreign Troops in Ukraine a "Legitimate Military Target"

Earlier that same day, the Russian Foreign Ministry sharply condemned the adoption of a declaration on security guarantees for Ukraine by the "coalition of the willing," as well as the agreement between Ukraine, France, and the United Kingdom on the possibility of deploying French and British troops in Ukraine. Moscow will consider such units and Western military facilities in Ukraine as "foreign intervention" and "legitimate military targets" for the Russian army, the Russian agency stated.

At a meeting of the "coalition of the willing" in Paris, Merz expressed Germany's principled readiness to include German soldiers in international peacekeeping forces in the event of a ceasefire in Ukraine. However, initially, they will be stationed in a neighboring NATO country, he indicated. At the same time, he did not rule out the deployment of German units directly in Ukraine.