President Volodymyr Zelensky on Jan. 22 clarified his earlier comments on the number of European peacekeepers needed to maintain peace in Ukraine, saying the required numbers would depend on the size of Ukraine’s own military.
The statement comes after Zelensky told a journalist at the World Economic Forum in Davos that at least 200,000 European soldiers would be needed for a stable peace deal.
"By the way, I didn’t say we need 200,000 (peacekeepers)... A journalist asked me, I said, 'maybe more, maybe less,'" Zelensky said when asked about the statement in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
Zelensky spoke in comparably stronger terms in Davos, saying: "From all the Europeans? 200,000, it’s a minimum. It’s a minimum, otherwise it’s nothing."
The president explained in the interview that the size of the needed contingent will depend on the strength of the Ukrainian military. As Kyiv would struggle to maintain a million-strong army needed to repel a future Russian aggression, fielding such a force would depend on U.S. and European support, he explained.
If the U.S. and Europe prove unwilling to help maintain such an army and Ukraine reduces it "by 200,000, 300,000 or 500,000, it means that other troops have to replace them in those numbers," Zelensky added.
The president’s conclusion was that in the face of such options, Ukraine’s accession to NATO is the cheapest way toward stable peace both for Ukraine and the West. At the same time, Zelensky admitted that some members – namely the U.S., Germany, Slovakia, and Hungary – remain reluctant to allow Ukraine into the alliance.
Zelensky has been in contact with a number of European leaders about the prospects of a peacekeeping mission — an initiative that French President Emmanuel Macron has spearheaded. During a visit to Kyiv on Jan. 16, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that his country will play its "full part" in supporting efforts to maintain an enduring peace in Ukraine.
The idea has also found support from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has called upon Europe to take up greater responsibility for Ukraine’s security and pledged to bring a swift end to the war.
Francis Farrell
