U.S. troops must be part of any Ukraine peacekeeping mission, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Bloomberg.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Jan. 22 that any international peacekeeping force to deploy in Ukraine as part of an eventual peace deal would need to include American troops.
Zelenskyy made the remarks in a Jan. 22 interview with Bloomberg in Davos, Switzerland, in which the Ukrainian leader explicitly called for an international peacekeeping force to secure a potential cease-fire with Russia.
Such troops would not have a “relaxed time” on such a mission, as they would need to be deployed to the conflict zone where they would be exposed to some risk, Zelenskyy said, before saying that some of those soldiers have to be American.
“It can’t be without the United States,” Zelenskyy told Bloomberg. “Even if some European friends think that it can be, no, it will not be. First of all, nobody will risk without the United States.”
At a separate media briefing in Davos, Zelenskyy told reporters that a contingent of at least 200,000 international soldiers would be needed to guarantee Ukraine’s security in a potential cease-fire with Russia. Without such guarantees, Zelenskyy said it would just be a matter of time until Russia invades again.
“We need contingents with a very strong number of soldiers,” Zelenskyy said. “Two hundred thousand is the minimum.”
Zelenskyy previously said any cease-fire without security guarantees for Ukraine would merely give Russia time to rearm for a renewed offensive, saying the United States should play a key role in providing such guarantees.
Zelenskyy’s remarks in Switzerland came on the same day that President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to enter into negotiations and bring a quick end to the Ukraine war. In a post on Truth Social, Trump called on Putin to settle the conflict quickly or face the prospect of additional punishing sanctions and other measures.
“I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin a very big favor,“ Trump wrote, partially in capital letters. ”Settle now, and stop this ridiculous war! It’s only going to get worse. If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries.”
