Moscow has no say if Ukraine asks allied troops to deploy on its territory

The president stated this on Saturday in an interview with regional publications, including Le Parisien-Aujourd’hui en France, Ukrinform reports.

“Ukraine is a sovereign state, and if it asks allied troops to be on its territory, it is not Russia’s business whether to accept them or not,” Macron stressed.

Also, in his opinion, Ukraine and the United States at the talks in Saudi Arabia brought their views closer together and were able to establish trust, agreeing on a 30-day ceasefire.

“Moscow’s refusal to accept the ceasefire agreement and the implicit threats that have been made speak of the insincerity of Russian commitments and, in essence, of the unwillingness to continue real peacekeeping work,” the French leader believes.

Meanwhile, according to Macron, the Franco-British plan for foreign troops in Ukraine, which is currently being finalized, has already engaged several countries.

“Its goal is not to have a mass (of soldiers – ed.). It is about deploying several thousand people from each country at key points to conduct training programs and demonstrate our support in the long term,” he noted, recalling that today the largest European army is the Ukrainian one.

The French president did not rule out providing Ukraine with additional Mirage fighter jets, including “by third countries that operate them.”

At the same time, he said that from the moment the ceasefire phase proposed by Washington and Kyiv begins, it will be necessary to hold a “direct exchange of views with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and between French and Russian negotiators to clarify the agenda.” The issue is about security guarantees that should be provided to Ukraine.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, President Zelensky said, commenting on foreign troops in Ukraine, that it is not Putin’s business to decide anything about the security of Ukraine and Europe.