Zelenskyy offers partners to deploy troops on the border with Belarus before peace deal

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that he had discussed with the leaders of France and the United Kingdom the possibility of sending their troops to patrol the border with Belarus. This would free up Ukrainian troops to go to the front. He said this in an interview with The Guardian.

According to him, the official proposal from the leaders of the "coalition of the willing" is to deploy troops only after a ceasefire or peace agreement.

"But... of course, we want to do it today," the president said.

When asked directly whether he proposed to do this faster, Zelenskyy replied: "I raised a lot of different ideas, including the presence of troops before the peace agreement.".

At the same time, he emphasized that he was doing so "very carefully," as leaders fear the reaction of their societies.

"I cannot take any risks. I'm afraid of losing the financial and military support of our partners," Zelensky explained.

• In January 2025, Zelenskiy said that Ukraine would need at least 200,000 peacekeepers from Europe after the ceasefire, but stressed that this was only part of the security guarantees.
• As of August 2025, according to Bloomberg, about 10 countries are ready to send troops to Ukraine after the ceasefire to be deployed further from the front line.