Ukraine, not Russia, has the right to decide whether it wants foreign troops on its territory, Poland’s foreign minister has said.
Radosław Sikorski was speaking in Madrid, where he was attending a meeting of representatives of the governments of the EU’s “Big Five” (France, Germany, Poland, Italy and Spain), as well as Britain and Ukraine.
The U.K. and France have raised the prospect of deploying troops to Ukraine to police any ceasefire agreement, but this idea has been rejected outright by Russia.
Sikorski took umbrage with the Kremlin’s assumption that it can dictate if foreign troops enter Ukraine.
“It is Ukraine, not Russia, that decides whether it wants foreign troops on its soil,” he said, adding that it was premature to raise this topic because there is no ceasefire agreement in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict yet, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported.
“If Kyiv asks for a foreign presence, then the international community will decide on this matter,” Sikorski said.
The foreign minister added that Russia poses a threat to all of Europe, which is why the response should also be “European” and that Russian assets frozen in Europe should be used to help Ukraine.
His Spanish counterpart, José Manuel Albares, also said that frozen Russian assets should be used to aid Kyiv.
“War reparations, which should sooner or later reach Ukraine, could be paid from these funds,” he added.
