(de-news.net) – In a joint declaration issued in Berlin, European heads of state and government announced their collective decision to establish a multinational force under European leadership to provide direct assistance to Ukraine. The statement, endorsed by Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, and senior representatives of the European Union institutions, outlined the principal objectives of this force. It was specified that the mission would encompass the regeneration of Ukraine’s armed forces, the safeguarding of its national airspace, and the improvement of maritime security, with operations envisaged not only along Ukraine’s borders but also within its territory.
Complementing this initiative, the declaration further envisaged the creation of a ceasefire monitoring mechanism under American leadership. This system, involving broad international participation, was intended to provide early warning of potential Russian offensives and to ensure that any violations of a future truce could be systematically identified and traced.
President Donald Trump, who had held telephone conversations with President Wolodymyr Zelensky and several of the leaders assembled in Berlin, expressed strong approval of the measures. He characterized the European commitment as overwhelming in its scope and suggested that the prospect of a negotiated settlement to bring the war in Ukraine to an end appeared closer than at any previous moment in the conflict.
Following the conclusion of the Berlin discussions, Chancellor Friedrich Merz reported that U.S. envoys Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner had assumed a pivotal role in the confidential negotiations conducted among Ukrainian, American, and European representatives. While acknowledging that progress had been made toward the formulation of a shared negotiating position, he emphasized that the question of territorial arrangements remained unresolved. Merz insisted that such matters could only be determined by the Ukrainian people themselves and by their elected president, underscoring the sensitivity and centrality of this issue.
Adopting a tone of guarded optimism, Merz observed that recent days had witnessed an extraordinary degree of diplomatic activity, perhaps the most intense since the outbreak of hostilities. He highlighted the significance of the legal and material guarantees presented in Berlin, describing them as a substantial advance in the search for peace. The Chancellor commended the United States for offering Ukraine concrete assurances of security in the event of a ceasefire, while stressing that any truce would require enforceable commitments from both Washington and the European capitals. Only through such binding guarantees, he argued, could a durable and credible peace process be initiated.
Since Sunday, delegations from the United States and Ukraine had been engaged in deliberations over a revised version of the peace plan for the country under Russian assault. Russia itself was absent from the Berlin negotiations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov subsequently stated that Moscow expected to receive a briefing from the U.S. government regarding the outcome of the talks. He reiterated that Ukraine’s potential renunciation of NATO membership represented a fundamental issue that would inevitably shape the parameters of any future negotiations.
