Merz says he is ready to send troops to Ukraine's neighboring NATO state

At this stage, Germany is not ready to send its troops to Ukraine after the ceasefire, but it may deploy them in a NATO country nearby. This was reported on briefing German Chancellor said in Paris, Friedrich Merz.

He believes that the meeting of the "coalition of the willing" in the French capital is another step forward on the road to peace. Merz said that Ukraine's partners want a potential ceasefire to be based on reliable security guarantees, not as it was in 2015, referring to the Minsk agreements.

According to him, the day was focused on the question of how Europe and its partners can jointly contribute to the security of Ukraine after the future ceasefire is achieved.

The German chancellor emphasized that his country will participate in monitoring the future ceasefire and will help strengthen Ukraine on land, sea and air. He is convinced that certain conditions must be met, including strong, legally binding security guarantees from all, including the United States.

"Second, the ceasefire must be agreed with the Russian side so that the coalition can act decisively enough. This is what we are working on now. Thirdly, each coalition partner should be given the opportunity to make decisions at the appropriate time in accordance with its domestic procedures," explained Mertz.

He added that Germany will continue to support Ukraine politically, financially and militarily.

"This could mean, for example, that after the ceasefire we will declare forces for Ukraine on NATO's adjacent territory. I want to make it clear: the nature and extent of the German contribution will be decided by us – the federal government and the Bundestag – once the conditions are clarified. On behalf of myself and the federal government, I will say that we do not exclude anything in principle," the official said.

• On January 3, Zelenskyy said that security guarantees for Ukraine, the effectiveness of the "coalition of the willing" depends on the readiness of key countries to be militarily present after the ceasefire.
• January 6 in Paris, Zelenskyy, Macron and Starmer signed the declaration on intentions for the future deployment of multinational forces.