China offers EU its participation in peacekeeping contingent in Ukraine
China held informal talks in Brussels about joining the "Coalition of the Willing," which is forming a peacekeeping contingent to be sent to Ukraine, Die Welt reports, announcing the material with reference to diplomatic sources in the Sunday supplement of Welt am Sonntag.
"Diplomats from Beijing have appealed to the EU with a request to participate in the peacekeeping contingent in Ukraine. There is hope that China's participation in the mission will influence Russia," the newspaper notes.
China, Die Welt wrote on Saturday, is apparently considering the possibility of participating in a possible peacekeeping contingent in Ukraine. Chinese diplomats in Brussels have expressed their opinion on whether such a step is possible and perhaps even desirable from the European point of view... According to diplomatic circles in Brussels: "China's involvement in the 'Coalition of the Willing' could increase the likelihood that Russia will agree to the deployment of peacekeeping troops into Ukraine." In any case, however, this is a "delicate" issue, the publication writes.
Die Welt recalls that French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a new summit of supporters of Ukraine for next Thursday. "We will hold a summit of the coalition of the willing next Thursday," Macron said on Thursday evening after the EU summit in Brussels. "The goal for me on Thursday is, above all, a renewed and clear and perhaps a slightly more specific commitment to support Ukraine in the short term," he said
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will also take part in the summit in Paris, Macron added. Both Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are ready to deploy peacekeeping troops in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv - an idea that Russia has so far strongly rejected.