Maria Malmer Stenergard with Ukraine’s Ambassador to Sweden
Credit: Frida Drake/Government Offices of Sweden
There appears to be a groundswell of European opinion that there is a possibility of peace between Russia and the Ukraine in the not too distant future.
Sweden considers sending peacekeepers to Ukraine if settlement reached with Russia
Sweden, one of the two most recent members of NATO has, through Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marie Malmer Stenergard, indicated that it would be prepared to consider sending a peacekeeping force to Ukraine if this appeared to be a viable option.
So, despite the apparent dismissal of Donald Trump’s discussions with President Putin whereby a possible peaceful solution could possibly be found, in the background it appears that a number of European States are considering the future should peace be agreed.
The most difficult party to convince will be President Zelensky and a proportion of those Ukrainians who have lost property and loved ones during the three years of the war but even in the Ukraine there is a recognition that the situation can’t carry on forever.
Sweden considers sending peacekeepers to Ukraine but Zelensky will have to make concessions to achieve peace
It’s reasonably clear that Ukraine will have to ‘bite the bullet’ accept that it can’t join NATO and will lose possession of the Crimea as well as probably having to give up some territory in the Donetsk region but the reality is that it lost those areas several years ago and it would give Putin the option to withdraw his troops without admitting that the invasion was a disaster.
America has made it clear that this is a European problem and has indicated that it won’t place any troops on the ground in Ukraine although sometimes what is said and what is intended can be two quite different things, especially when it has its eyes on Ukraine’s rare earth mineral deposits.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has admitted that he would under certain circumstances be prepared to send British peacekeepers into Ukraine, whilst recognising that they may at some stage be in danger, whilst the Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski had earlier predicted that European troops would indeed be sent to Ukraine and France is also known to be likely to offer peacekeepers although no-one wants NATO to deploy.
It’s all down to safety of the Ukrainian people and the peacekeepers and such an action could only be put into place if a “fair and sustainable peace that respects international law” can be guaranteed as indicated by Sweden’s Marie Malmer Stenergard.
