France will not accept "any demilitarization of the Ukrainian army," French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on March 11, The Guardian reported.
"Demilitarization" and "denazification" were two insincere excuses that the Kremlin used to invade Ukraine in a war of territorial and ethnocidal aggression in February 2022.
The Ukrainian army is "the main guarantee" of Ukraine's security, Lecornu said in the opening remarks at the Paris Defence and Strategy Forum, which gathered over 30 army chiefs to discuss what Europe and the West can offer in support of Ukraine as part of a peace deal with Russia.
The French defense minister added that Europe is facing a "new period" in its history, significantly different from the Cold War and the period of "peace dividends" with several powers fighting for influence.
At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia demanded that Ukraine reduce its army to 50,000 personnel. Moscow also sought to ensure that Kyiv "did not develop, produce, purchase, or deploy missile weapons of any kind with a range of over 250 kilometers (156 miles) on its territory."
Ukraine has repeatedly highlighted the need for security guarantees in the event of a ceasefire in the war with Russia.
President Volodymyr Zelensky previously stressed the need for a 1.5 million-strong army if Ukraine is not accepted into NATO. The Ukrainian army currently has 880,000 troops, making it the largest in Europe, according to Zelensky.
Tim Zadorozhnyy
