Zelenskyy says how many peacekeepers needed for Ukraine's security
President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy (photo: Getty images)
After the ceasefire agreement is reached, to prevent a new Russian attack, Ukraine will need European peacekeepers. Their number should be no less than 200,000, reports Reuters.
"From all the Europeans? 200,000, it's a minimum. It's a minimum, otherwise it's nothing," said the head of state at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
This number is roughly equivalent to the size of the entire French army, which, according to the French Ministry of Defense in 2020, consisted of slightly over 200,000 personnel.
Zelenskyy stated that at least such a number of troops would be needed as a security guarantee, given that the Russian military has 1.5 million personnel, while Ukraine only has half of that number.
The president also noted that such a force would only be part of the necessary security guarantees for Ukraine.
In early January, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the deployment of foreign peacekeeping forces is one of the best tools to force Russia into peace.
"We all understand – as for today, Putin’s (Vladimir Putin, Russian President - ed.) aims remain unchanged. He wants to totally destroy Ukraine – and to break all of us and you too. That’s why our goal to find as many instruments as possible to force Russia to peace. I believe that such deployment of partners’ contingents is one of the best instruments," the president said.
