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NATO chief Mark Rutte said Thursday that Russia has no right to decide whether Western powers can deploy troops to Ukraine as part of security guarantees if a truce is reached.
“Why are we interested in what Russia thinks about troops in Ukraine? It’s a sovereign country. It’s not for them to decide,” Rutte told reporters in Prague. “Russia has nothing to do with this.”
Leaders from a “coalition of the willing” spearheaded by France and Britain met Thursday to finalize contributions to planned security guarantees for Kyiv.
“If Ukraine wants to have security guarantee forces in Ukraine to support a peace deal, it’s up to them. Nobody else can decide about it,” Rutte said. “I think we really have to stop making Putin too powerful,” he added, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia has repeatedly warned it opposes the deployment of Western troops in Ukraine under any peace agreement.
Western diplomats said roughly 30 countries are discussing a possible “reassurance force” for Ukraine, with European nations hoping to present concrete troop commitments to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to back the effort.
Trump has pressed to end the war, but the Kremlin has delayed direct talks between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In Paris on Thursday, European leaders and Zelensky met to agree on security guarantees for Kyiv in the event of a peace deal to end the three-and-a-half-year war triggered by Russia’s 2022 invasion.
The guarantees — expected to include expanded military training and possible troop deployments by some European states — have angered Russia. French President Emmanuel Macron is leading the push to demonstrate Europe’s ability to act independently of Washington after Trump reshaped U.S. foreign policy just months into office.
The Paris summit, co-chaired by Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, aims to confirm European contributions and clarify Washington’s role.
The coalition includes about 30 nations, mostly European but also Canada, Australia, and Japan. The United States was represented by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, with follow-up talks scheduled between Trump and European leaders.
“Europe is ready, for the first time with this level of commitment and intensity,” Macron said Wednesday as he welcomed Zelensky.
But divisions remain. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz reiterated that Germany will not deploy troops in Ukraine, even after a ceasefire, though Berlin intends to strengthen Kyiv’s air defenses and supply ground forces.
Moscow has rejected any possibility of foreign troops in Ukraine. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that Russia would not consider such deployments “in any format.”
Putin has warned that Moscow is prepared to “resolve all our tasks militarily” and said European forces in Ukraine would cross a red line.
European frustration with Putin has sharpened in recent weeks. Zelensky said Wednesday that Russia has shown “no signs” it wants to end the war.
Macron last month called Putin “an ogre at our gates,” while German Chancellor Merz labeled him “perhaps the most severe war criminal of our time.”
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