Key points
- UK Premier Starmer has earlier said he is ready to deploy troops
- We must first now negotiate a fair and sustainable peace: Swedish FM
STOCKHOLM, Sweden: Sweden said Monday it would not rule out sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, if necessary, after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was ready to deploy troops.
The comments came as European leaders were to meet Monday in Paris to discuss US President Donald Trump’s plans to begin talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin “very soon” on ending the fighting in Ukraine, sidelining Kyiv and Europe.
Fair and sustainable peace
“We must first now negotiate a fair and sustainable peace that respects international law, that respects Ukraine and that ensures above all else that Russia can’t just withdraw and regroup and attack Ukraine or another country within a few years,” Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told public radio Sveriges Radio.
“When we have such a peace in place, it will need to be maintained and for that our government is not ruling out anything,” she said.
Starmer wrote in the Daily Telegraph late Sunday that he was willing to put “our own troops on the ground if necessary”.
When we have such a peace in place, it will need to be maintained and for that our government is not ruling out anything.” – Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard
“Any role in helping to guarantee Ukraine’s security is helping to guarantee the security of our continent, and the security of this country,” he wrote.
