European leaders reaffirmed their long-term support forUkraine during a summit in Paris on Thursday but appeared to make little progress on what role they might play in providing security guarantees if a peace deal is struck with Moscow.
CGTN’s Ross Cullen talks through the day’s events.
CGTN’s Ross Cullen talks through the day’s events.
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00:00We're here in Paris. The Ukraine summit that was held on Thursday has come to a
00:05conclusion. We did hear from Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian leader, after the
00:10end of that international conference saying that there should not be any
00:13lifting of sanctions on Russia just yet. That's something that the Kremlin has
00:18suggested it could be in return for adhering to the Black Sea ceasefire deal.
00:23We heard from the British Prime Minister as well speaking about the fact that he
00:28agrees there should be no lifting of sanctions. In fact it should be on the
00:30contrary, there should be more sanctions applied. Maximum pressure should be
00:34applied by Western allies to Russia in order to continue to force Russia to the
00:39negotiating table. And we heard from the host president as well, Emmanuel Macron.
00:44Now he was speaking about this so-called reassurance force or peacekeeping force
00:49that could see thousands of foreign troops deployed inside Ukraine after the
00:54end of any peace agreement. We do know that now Defence Chiefs from the
01:00United Kingdom and from France in the coming days will be going to Ukraine
01:04along with military advisors to speak to and to continue to support their
01:09Ukrainian Armed Forces partners but also to assess the conditions on the ground.
01:13How many soldiers might be needed? What kind of hardware might be required? What
01:18kind of equipment will be needed by Western troops if they are to be
01:22deployed at Ukraine's invitation inside Ukraine to ensure that there is a
01:27deterrent to dissuade Russia from any further future incursions inside Ukraine
01:34and to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces in trying to defend that peace
01:39deal. So that's certainly one of the top lines that have come out of the summit,
01:43one of the top points that are important to to follow the end of the
01:47international summit and we are likely to have further meetings as well, further
01:52future international conferences on Ukraine over the next coming weeks.