Italy hopes that Macron's plan for peacekeepers in Ukraine will not be needed

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has expressed hope that the plan proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron to deploy European forces in Ukraine will not be necessary.

Commenting on Italy's official position on Macron's plan, Tajani said that they hoped that what Macron was proposing would not be needed.

"Because – like Zelenskyy himself – we think that the war may end within the year. We have other fronts open and we need to work for a just peace treaty... which respects Ukraine's position," the Italian foreign minister said.

He also ruled out sending Italian troops to Ukraine as part of either a European or NATO mission.

"A different thing would be a UN mission that could act as an interposition force once peace has been achieved," Tajani added.

According to The Telegraph, the United Kingdom and France have prepared a plan to deploy up to 30,000 European troops in Ukraine.

Macron has previously stressed that the conditions for ending the Russo-Ukrainian war cannot be such that they would mean Ukraine's de facto surrender and that a lasting peace is necessary for the security of the entire European continent.