Zelenskyy: UN peacekeepers can’t replace military contingents

He stated this on March 21 during a joint press conference with Czech President Petr Pavel.

"As for the UN, with all due respect, the UN will not protect us from occupation or Putin's desire to come back. We do not see the UN as an alternative to a military contingent or security guarantees. We maintain reasonable, logical relations with the UN, its representatives, and the Secretary-General, but the UN cannot be an alternative to security guarantees," Zelenskyy said.

In his opinion, if the UN does not have a mandate to protect Ukraine, Putin will once again bring war to Ukraine.

"Undoubtedly, when there are troops, air defense systems, ships, planes, and a strong army, with real intelligence from our partners here in Ukraine, going against such infrastructure is dangerous for the Russians," the president expressed his opinion.

Peacekeeping forces in Ukraine

At the end of January, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that at least 200,000 peacekeepers would be needed to secure Ukraine after the cessation of hostilities. Later, the president clarified that the peacekeeping forces in Ukraine should include U.S. military personnel.

On February 11, the New York Times reported that Europe did not have 200,000 peacekeepers available to send to Ukraine, which is nearly three times the size of the entire British Army. On the same day, Zelenskyy stated that the mission would be operational with the deployment of 100,000-150,000 European troops.

According to AP, a group of European countries is secretly developing a plan to send troops to Ukraine.

U.S. President Donald Trump supported the deployment of European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine but stated that the U.S. would not participate.

According to the spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European countries are currently discussing the possibility of sending their military to Ukraine, but not the number of troops.

Meanwhile, the Finnish government rejected the possibility of sending peacekeepers to Ukraine. Finland's Prime Minister stated that Finland cannot do this as it shares a border with Russia.

At the same time, German company Rheinmetall announced its readiness to arm peacekeepers in Ukraine.

On March 16, Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, stated that the Kremlin would consider the deployment of Western peacekeepers in Ukraine as a declaration of war against NATO.