President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine’s proposed security guarantees would include an international monitoring mechanism designed to prevent and verify potential Russian false-flag operations, responding to a question from Kyiv Post during the online press conference.
Answering whether the guarantees account for the risk of Russia staging provocations and blaming Ukraine, Zelensky said the system would be implemented in stages, with monitoring as the first priority.
“First of all, the security guarantees that we talked about are coming in stages. And number one for us is that there should be a monitoring mission simultaneously with the ceasefire,” Zelensky said.
According to him, the mission would operate under the leadership of Ukraine’s trusted partners and rely on advanced technical capabilities.
“It will be under the leadership of our partners, whom we trust. They can technically do it. They have satellites, infrastructure, and the entire drone infrastructure for this,” the president said.
Zelensky added that the response to any ceasefire violations would be clearly defined in advance.
“As for how to react to this – this is the second part of the security guarantees, which spells out point by point how our partners will react in the event of a ceasefire violation,” he said.
The president also announced a series of upcoming diplomatic meetings linked to the security guarantees and peace efforts. On Jan. 3, Ukraine is set to host national security advisers from countries participating in the Coalition of the Willing.
“Despite all the media accusations from the Russians about the disruption of our negotiations with the Americans, we are working every day,” Zelensky said.
He noted that discussions with the US are ongoing, including multiple calls between Ukraine’s negotiating team, led by Rustem Umerov, and US representatives, including Steve Witkoff.
Zelensky said the next stage would involve a leaders-level meeting in France.
“President Macron, together with European leaders, will organize a meeting on Jan. 6 in France,” he said, adding that further consultations would continue on Jan. 7 before discussions on preparations for a meeting between European and US leaders.
Earlier, media reports indicated that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the US could deploy troops, as part of the security guarantees, either on the contact line or on the border. When asked to confirm this, Zelensky said:
“Can the president confirm this? Only the US president can confirm this. These are US troops, and that is why America makes such decisions,” Zelensky said.
“Of course, we are discussing this with President Trump and with representatives of the Coalition of the Willing. We would like this. It would be a strong position in the guarantees, no doubt,” he added.
This ongoing news story will be updated as more information becomes available.