US criticizes plan to send 'peacekeeping force' to Ukraine

According to RT on March 23, US President's special envoy Steve Witkoff said the plan of Britain and European countries to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine is just an "effort to show off".

In an interview with journalist Carlson Tucker, special envoy Witkoff said that Britain and other European countries are overestimating their own strength when planning to send peacekeeping forces to Ukraine. According to him, claims by European politicians about the threat from Russia are unfounded.

Mr. Witkoff stressed that he was confident that Moscow had no plans to “annex Ukraine.”

“The Russians have gotten what they wanted. They have control of five regions. They have Crimea. They have everything they wanted. Why do they need more?” – Mr. Witkoff said.

President Trump’s special envoy also noted the questionable service European politicians are providing to Ukraine, as they try to encourage Mr. Zelensky to become stagnant at the negotiating table.

“I have spoken to many European leaders and told them: ‘The more you encourage Mr. Zelensky not to actively engage in peace negotiations, the more it is clear that aid will continue to be provided without any conditions. No one is saying that we should not help Ukraine now or later in the recovery period. But this must happen under certain conditions, ”the US special envoy said.

He explained that if the US is going to provide Ukraine with "a large sum of money", then they first want to know the plan of action, to understand "how this situation will be resolved".

Witkoff stressed that Washington intends to reach a fair deal for Kiev to resolve the crisis, but will not let Kiev be dragged into World War III.

According to the Financial Times, a “coalition of the willing” proposed by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is discussing patrolling Ukrainian airspace and ensuring maritime security after a peace deal is signed between Moscow and Kiev. The newspaper notes that this approach is a departure from the previous emphasis on a European military presence on the ground.

At the same time, London still considers US participation an important condition for deploying Western military forces in Ukraine.

Political scientist Vladimir Kornilov in an interview with RT said that the US attitude towards the European peacekeeping initiative reflects the pragmatic approach of the Donald Trump administration to the conflict in Ukraine.

“Washington knows very well that Europe will not take anyone anywhere. And everything Europe is doing now with its peacekeeping announcements is an attempt to sabotage any efforts to reach a peace agreement. Because if in the United States there is a change of power and a change of political direction, in Europe everything remains the same as under the Democratic administration, which has been anti-Russian for a long time. However, after losing a strong like-minded partner like the United States under Biden, European politicians cannot find a better way than to act as the main combatant against Russia themselves. But they do not have the strength and resources to do this,” the expert explained.

Vladimir Batyuk, chief researcher at the Institute for the United States and Canada, said that the military potential of individual European countries supporting the peacekeeping idea is insignificant compared to that of the United States or Russia.

“For example, if we take the British army, which is considered the most combat-ready in Europe, it has two battalions of self-propelled artillery and 40 Challenger tanks. It is difficult to understand how they can carry out peacekeeping missions on the Russian-Ukrainian contact line, which is about 2,000 km long. Other European countries have an even worse situation with their armed forces. In addition, all the allies have a very difficult economic situation in their countries. In these conditions, it is unclear where they will get money for rearmament,” the analyst explained.