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Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reiterated Greece’s call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine while saying that the country is not ready to send troops to the embattled country.
“Greece is not among the countries ready to send troops to Ukraine as part of the ‘coalition of the willing,’” Mitsotakis said in a statement after the meeting of European leaders in Paris on Thursday, who gathered to discuss peace and security in Ukraine.
Leaders from nearly 30 countries and NATO, along with EU chiefs met in the French capital to also discuss bolstering aid to Kiyv and deploying European troops to secure long-term peace.
Mitsotakis further said that the debate of sending troops in Ukraine “may be a little divisive and not allow us to focus on the main thing, which is none other than how we can get the war to end sooner.”
“Ukraine has accepted in principle such a proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, but unfortunately Russia has still not accepted it,” Mitsotakis said. “Therefore all pressure at the moment must be put on Russia to stop the military attacks on Ukraine, particularly on critical infrastructure.
Regarding security guarantees, Mitsotakis said that the strongest guarantee is the reinforcement of Ukraine’s armed forces.
Days before the Paris meeting, and after three days of peace talks in Saudi Arabia, Russia and Ukraine agreed to a naval ceasefire in the Black Sea in separate deals with the US.
Washington said all parties would continue working toward a “durable and lasting peace” in statements announcing the agreements, which would reopen an important trade route.
They have also committed to “develop measures” to implement a previously agreed ban on attacking each other’s energy infrastructure, the White House said.
But Russia said the naval ceasefire would only come into force after a number of sanctions against its food and fertilizer trade were lifted.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the deal to halt strikes in the Black Sea was a step in the right direction. “It is too early to say that it will work, but these were the right meetings, the right decisions, the right steps,” he told a press conference in Kyiv.
“No-one can accuse Ukraine of not moving towards sustainable peace after this,” he added, after US President Donald Trump had previously accused him of blocking a peace deal.
But shortly after Washington’s announcement, the Kremlin said the Black Sea ceasefire would not take effect until sanctions were lifted from Russian banks, producers and exporters involved in the international food and fertilizer trades.
The measures demanded by Russia include reconnecting the banks concerned to the SwiftPay payment system, lifting restrictions on servicing ships under the Russian flag involved in the food trade, and on the supply of agricultural machinery and other goods needed for the production of food.
