European Leaders at Odds Over Response to Ukraine Ceasefire Talks

Britain, France Plan Fact-Finding Mission Amid Disagreement Over Deployment of Troops to Ukraine

- Jonathan Eyal

Britain and France have announced plans to send a joint military fact-finding mission to Ukraine "during the coming weeks", as a prelude to the eventual deployment of European troops within Ukraine, should a ceasefire be concluded in that country's war.

The Franco-British mission to Ukraine, hand-picked by the defence chiefs of the two nations, will include "a multidisciplinary team with specialists in doctrine, human resources and training", a French military official told journalists on March 27.

This came at the end of yet another major international gathering of European leaders in Paris to discuss the continent's stance on Ukraine.

Beyond the dispatch of this mission, however, European leaders were still in disagreement on how they should respond to the ceasefire negotiations conducted between the US and Russia, talks from which Europe remains excluded.

"Many questions, but still few answers", is how a frustrated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky summed up the latest discussions in the French capital.

Since Feb 12, when US President Donald Trump, with Russian President Vladimir Putin, formally launched efforts to bring about a ceasefire in Ukraine, the Europeans have changed their stances several times.

They first reacted with outrage to the idea that ceasefire negotiations should take place without the participation of the Ukrainians.

The Europeans then tried to mediate between Mr Zelensky and Mr Trump, as personal relations between the two leaders nosedived.