Kyiv prepares strategy for Western military presence, seeks 100,000 soldiers

Ukraine has prepared a detailed plan for deploying up to 100,000 Western military personnel on its territory, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed.

He stated that he intends to present and discuss this proposal at the Munich Security Conference, which is scheduled to take place from February 14 to 16, Caliber.Az reports via international media outlets.

While speaking about potential security guarantees from Western allies, Zelenskyy outlined several possibilities, including Ukraine’s accession to NATO, additional arms supplies, long-range missiles, and even nuclear weapons.

He also reiterated the idea of forming an alternative security alliance — referred to as “its own NATO” — which he had mentioned in a recent interview with The Economist.

“And then there’s NATO. Then the weapons from you, the contingent from the Europeans and Americans. <...> I instructed our military: please calculate, please mark the points. We have drawn a map — if necessary, everything is ready, and I can talk about it in Munich. Not very openly. But we need 100,000 people there,” Zelenskyy stated in a video published on his office’s official YouTube channel.

This plan aligns with previous statements from the Ukrainian leader advocating for increased Western support. Zelenskyy has called on European nations to fund the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), which Kyiv intends to expand to one million personnel.

He has also previously supported the deployment of 200,000 foreign troops, emphasizing that this figure represents the “minimum” necessary. Later, he clarified that the 200,000-strong Western contingent could be positioned in Ukraine following a ceasefire to compensate for any potential reductions in Ukrainian troop numbers.

Discussions about the possibility of sending Western military forces to Ukraine have been ongoing in European capitals.

On January 3, Politico reported that European leaders were still debating the feasibility of deploying a military contingent. The report stated that French President Emmanuel Macron had met with former US President Donald Trump and Zelenskyy in December 2024, seeking to persuade Poland to send peacekeepers to Ukraine. However, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk opposed the idea, leading to stalled negotiations

By Tamilla Hasanova