Any NATO country has right to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine — diplomat Bryza

He voiced this opinion on Espreso TV.

“It is possible that any of those countries might want to offer their own peacekeeping forces outside of NATO. However, it is not clear to me that there needs to be any sort of umbrella organization or mandate. They could simply act independently and deploy their peacekeeping forces because they will never get a United Nations Security Council mandate unless Russia agrees. And Russia will never want NATO members to send peacekeepers onto the territory of Ukraine,” Bryza said.

The diplomat underlined that only Ukraine should decide and authorize the deployment of peacekeeping forces on its territory. He noted that each NATO country has the sovereign right to deploy its own peacekeeping troops without a decision of the Alliance.

“It is the sovereign right of those countries to send in their peacekeeping troops, regardless of whether the United Nations approves or whether NATO approves, as long as Ukraine approves. The territory is Ukraine's, and Ukraine has the right to invite anyone it chooses into its country,” he added.

• On December 13, The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump believes that European forces will need to be deployed in Ukraine to monitor compliance with the ceasefire.
• On December 13, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that Poland's government is primarily interested in defending its own territory, so sending troops to Ukraine is out of the question.