“at least 200,000” European soldiers are needed to guarantee peace, according to Zelensky

«200,000 is a minimum. It’s a minimum. Otherwise, it’s nothing», Estimates Volodymyr Zelensky during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos regarding the number of European soldiers needed. The Russian army claimed this Wednesday, January 21, the capture of the village of Zapadné, in the Kharkiv region (north-east). kyiv’s forces are also struggling in the east, particularly around Pokrovsk. Le Figaro takes stock of the situation.

“Otherwise, it’s nothing”

President Volodymyr Zelensky estimated that at least 200,000 European troops should be deployed to guarantee Ukraine’s security in the event of a truce with Russia and avoid a new invasion, according to a video released by kyiv on Wednesday. “200,000 is a minimum. It’s a minimum. Otherwise, it’s nothing”declared the Ukrainian president on Tuesday during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland), in an interview shared on the presidency’s website the next day.

This is the first time that a senior Ukrainian official has publicly mentioned the number of such a contingent, although this project has been discussed behind the scenes for several months between kyiv and its Western allies. President Emmanuel Macron had put forward the idea of ​​stationing Western troops in Ukraine to supervise a possible ceasefire agreement with Russia, which launched the invasion of its Ukrainian neighbor three years ago and occupies around 20%. of its territory.

The Russian army claims an advance in the northeast of the country

The Russian army claimed this Wednesday, January 21, the capture of the village of Zapadné, in the Kharkiv region (north-east), a new advance on the west bank of the Oskil River and a sign of kyiv’s difficulties in containing the soldiers enemies. “Units of the “West” troop group liberated the settlement of Zapadne in the Kharkiv region”indicated the Russian Ministry of Defense, whose forces are advancing in several sectors of this area and the eastern front.

Russian forces managed to establish a bridgehead at the beginning of January by crossing the Oskil, a river in eastern Ukraine and a natural barrier which separated the positions of the two camps in this sector. They opened the way for an assault on the western part of the Kharkiv region, from which the Russian army had been driven out in the fall of 2022. The Kremlin forces are in particular only a few kilometers from Kupiansk, a city which counted approximately 25,000 inhabitants before the war and which constitutes the main Ukrainian stronghold in this area.

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Other difficulties around Pokrovsk

kyiv’s forces are also struggling in the east, particularly around Pokrovsk, a key city for military logistics and the coal industry. The Russian army is only a handful of kilometers from Pokrovsk, occupying the southern and eastern flanks of the city, and is also pushing west towards the neighboring region of Dnipropetrovsk and its capital Dnipro. If Russian forces entered this region, it would be a first since the assault on Ukraine began on February 24, 2022.

For weeks, speculation about possible talks to end the conflict has been increasing, against a backdrop of questions about the position that American President Donald Trump will adopt, while the United States is the main provider of military aid and financial in kyiv. Moscow and kyiv, which occupies a small part of the Russian region of Kursk, are seeking to strengthen their positions while waiting to know the intentions of Donald Trump, who has said he wants to quickly end the conflict, without putting forward a concrete plan.