Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy, Macron discuss troops deployment

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he discussed with French President Emmanuel Macron the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine.

Macron floated the idea of sending ground troops to Ukraine earlier this year, in a sharp departure from other Western leaders, who have repeatedly said they want to avoid an escalation of the war in Ukraine.

"We share a common vision: reliable guarantees are essential for a peace that can truly be achieved," Zelenskyy wrote on X.

"We continued working on President Macron's initiative regarding the presence of forces in Ukraine that could contribute to stabilizing the path to peace."

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, like Rutte, stressed the importance of sequencing before the meeting. For now, Scholz said, the priority was providing Ukraine as much military assistance as possible. 

In terms of the prospect of ceasefire talks or implementation, he said Ukraine first needed to make clear what its goals for a peace deal would be. 

"No decision should be made above Ukraine's head," Scholz said, while also warning that a potential deal must not amount to a "dictated peace."

However, Scholz also voiced confidence in the chances of a continued, united NATO policy on Ukraine after the change in occupancy at the White House. 

He said his recent phone call with Donald Trump had shown him "that it is possible for us to develop our policies together so that Ukraine can have a positive outlook." 

Scholz will likely be leaving his post as chancellor fairly soon after Trump's inauguration, with early elections set for late February in Germany.

Ahead of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, NATOSecretary General Mark Rutte said the priority for Wednesday's meeting was to "make sure that Ukraine has what it needs" to prevent Russia and its president Vladimir Putin from winning the war. 

Rutte declined to comment on what a potential ceasefire might look like, amid speculation of a change in course after Donald Trump's inauguration, saying it was important to first "focus on the business at hand." 

Rutte, the Netherlands' prime minister until July, has been filling the role as NATO's secretary general since October.

Not for the first time in recent months, a short-notice appearance from Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy has somewhat stolen the show from the original main event.

However, Wednesday's talks in Brussels are first and foremost, at least nominally, the latest of several summits on the slow process to usher six Western Balkan countries — Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia — towards EU membership. 

DW's senior correspondent in Brussels Bernd Riegert does not expect any major movement on the issue:

Yet another Western Balkan summit is taking place here in Brussels, but no concrete decisions are on the table. No accession date will be given to any of the six countries. 

Some of the six leaders are not satisfied that they might yet have to wait years for an accession date. Some are actually getting impatient. Some leaders are frustrated that nothing has actually happened, and also that the EU does not appear fit to take in new members.

At the summit, the EU will seek to reassure the West Balkan countries that they are still most welcome, also for geopolitical reasons after Russia's aggression against Ukraine. We may hear warm words, but expect little real progress.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday that a NATO command in Wiesbaden in western Germany set up to assist Ukraine and provide training for its troops was now functional. 

"The NATO command in Wiesbaden for security assistance and training for Ukraine is now up and running," Rutte said.

Wiesbaden is also home to a major US Army base. Plans for the facility first emerged late in 2022, just a few months after Russia's invasion. 

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet NATO chief Mark Rutte and other key European leaders in Brussels to discuss the "next steps" in Russia's war, as Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni put it.

The evening's gathering was expected to involve leaders from Germany, Poland, Italy, Denmark and the EU. 

Zelenskyy said the leaders would discuss "how to urgently strengthen Ukraine on the battlefield, politically and geopolitically." NATO, meanwhile, said the talks would focus on continued support for Ukraine, particularly in terms of air defense.

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir starmer are set to miss the meeting due to schedule clashes, but said they would send their foreign ministers instead. 

The meeting comes just over a month before US President-elect Donald Trump moves into the White House, amid uncertainty on his approach to Ukraine.

Trump has repeatedly said he would bring a swift end to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, without elaborating on how, prompting concerns he may pull US support from Kyiv to force the country to make concessions to Moscow.

Russian authorities said on Wednesday that they had detained an Uzbek citizen after a senior general was killed by a bomb hidden in an electric scooter.

"A national of Uzbekistan, born in 1995, was arrested on suspicion of having committed the attack that cost the life of the commander of Russian radiological, chemical and biological defense forces, Igor Kirillov, and his assistant, Ilya Polikarpov," the Investigative Committee said in a statement. 

It claimed that the 29-year-old suspect had admitted being "recruited by Ukrainian special forces," while Russia's state TASS news agency said the man had been offered $100,000 and travel to the European Union.

Ukraine has also claimed responsibility for the killing.

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