European military contingent in Ukraine may be part of security guarantees, says Zelenskyy

This was stated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a joint press conference with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, responding to a question about discussions on security guarantees and the possibility of introducing a European military contingent into Ukraine.

"We support the idea that a contingent from certain countries, our allies, is and can become one of the security guarantees," Zelenskyy said. "But we need a complete map of security guarantees, part of which may be a military contingent. There are questions about what kind of contingent it will be, from which countries, where they will be stationed, etc."

He noted that Ukraine is discussing this matter with France, the Baltic partners, but at present, it is still at the general stage. This issue will also be discussed with the British leader.

In Zelenskyy's view, a step that could precede the introduction of a military contingent into Ukraine might be the deployment of instructors under a training program to educate and train Ukrainian troops.

At the same time, Zelenskyy emphasized that this is not enough. In his opinion, part of the security guarantees should also include maintaining a large army in Ukraine.

An important point is the provision of weapons. As the President of Ukraine noted, since the start of the full-scale war, the proportion of help from Europe, the USA, and Ukrainian weaponry is as follows: 33-34% is domestically produced, about 30% is from Europe, and about 40% is from the USA.

"We cannot view the guarantees of today's support for Ukraine without one of the players being equally important – Europe and the USA. It is crucial for us to maintain this alliance. And these are also security guarantees. We will discuss this with the United States as well," he added.

Meanwhile, one of the most important guarantees, according to Zelenskyy, is Ukraine's NATO membership.

"The parts I mentioned are about today, about what we need on the way to NATO. But NATO must also be," he said.

• Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, during his meeting with Zelenskyy, stated that Poland's presidency of the EU Council is an important moment on Ukraine's path to the European Union. He assured that Poland will work with Kyiv and European partners to accelerate the integration process.