Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a Feb. 8 interview that discussions over Germany potentially deploying its peacekeeping troops to Ukraine are "premature and inappropriate."
He told the German newspaper RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) that "first there needs to be an end to the conflict and real negotiations," and only then it would be possible to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine.
"I find such debates inappropriate and premature," Scholz told RND. "Because it is assumed that Ukraine will not get parts of its territory back from Russia."
The Telegraph reported in November that, under one of the peace plans being considered by U.S. President Donald Trump, he might call on British and other European troops to enforce a buffer zone that the president would attempt to establish in place of the current front line in Ukraine.
The comments come as Ukraine struggles to hold the front line amid relentless Russian offensives in the east. Losing one town after another, Kyiv is increasingly on the back foot, especially in Donetsk Oblast, as it scrambles to gather manpower and resources to defend its last strongholds there.
The future of Western military aid remains as uncertain as ever with the return of Trump, a Ukraine skeptic who says he is determined to push both sides into negotiations to end the war.
"In any case, Ukraine will have an army that it will not be able to pay for with its financial means alone, and that is where we and all of Ukraine's friends will be called upon," Scholz told RND.
In January, Roderich Kiesewetter, a lawmaker from the German opposition party Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said that Berlin should not rule out deploying its troops to Ukraine after the war ends, German newspaper Schwäbische Zeitung reported.
His remarks came as the U.K. and France considered sending their own troops to monitor a potential ceasefire in Ukraine.
Kateryna Denisova
