Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that “at least 200,000” allied troops would be needed to enforce any peace deal in Ukraine as he urged Europe to “take care of itself” as Donald Trump returns to power in the US.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Zelenskyy said European leaders should not ask themselves what Trump would do next, and said that they instead needed to take collective steps to defend their continent at a time when it is under an aggressive attack by Russia.
“Europe must establish itself as a strong, global player, as an indispensable player,” the Ukrainian president said. He cited the involvement of North Korean troops in Moscow’s war against Kyiv, with fighting taking place in the Kursk region of western Russia, close to Ukraine’s eastern border.
“Let’s not forget there is no ocean separating European countries from Russia. European leaders should remember these battles involving North Korean soldiers are now happening in places geographically closer to Davos than Pyongyang,” he said.
He also gave details of how an international peacekeeping operation could function, if an agreement could be reached between Ukraine and Russia, telling an interview panel that a large group would be needed. “From all the Europeans? 200,000, it’s a minimum. It’s a minimum, otherwise it’s nothing,” he said. He ruled out reducing Ukraine’s army to a fifth of its 800,000-strong size – one of the Kremlin’s demands.
“This is what he [Putin] wants. We will not allow this to happen,” Zelenskyy said, adding that his team were working on setting up a meeting with Trump.
Trump has promised to end the conflict quickly. Speaking after his inauguration on Monday, the new US president said Vladimir Putin was “destroying” Russia and should make a deal.
Zelenskyy stressed that any ceasefire agreement is contingent on western security assurances. The “best guarantee” was membership of Nato – something most European member countries support, but that the US , Germany, as well as the pro-Russian governments of Hungary and Slovakia, oppose.
In recent weeks Zelenskyy has held discussions with several European partners about a possible peacekeeping mission, including France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, and Keir Starmer, who visited Kyiv last week. There have been talks too with Poland and the Baltic states.
Speaking during his trip to Ukraine, Starmer said the UK was ready “to play our full part”, though he did not commit to boots on the ground. He told Sky News: “We have always been one of the leading countries in relation to the defence of Ukraine. And so you can read into that … But I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves because this has to be enduring.”
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In his Davos address, Zelenskyy urged EU countries to spend more on technology and defence, especially in the production of drones and modern air defence systems. He said Russia had mobilised 600,000 troops in Ukraine and could muster 1.5 million men – a force several times bigger than any individual European national army.
“We all need to unite,” he said, adding: “Europe needs to learn how to fully take care of itself, so the world cannot afford to ignore it”.
Kyiv has long claimed that if Putin wins the war in Ukraine, he will move on to attack other nations. Russia had been transformed into a war economy, Zelenskyy said, and was outproducing Europe in military terms. Left unchecked, Putin would return “with an army 10 times larger than now”, he said, and swallow up independent states that used to belong to the Soviet Union.
