France's President Emmanuel Macron has invited to a new top meeting in Paris on March 27 to continue preparations for a peacekeeping force in Ukraine if a peace agreement were to be reached.
Yes, I will attend if the invitation is confirmed. But I have not seen it physically yet, says Kristersson during a break in Thursday's EU top meeting in Brussels.
According to Kristersson, there is still Swedish openness to participating in a peacekeeping force, if "the conditions are right".
Then we know roughly what we could contribute with. But we will synchronize this with other countries first before I go public with it. But we really have the capacity, says the Prime Minister.
Backing required
A condition is a "back stop", i.e. military backing, for example from the USA, in case a peace agreement were to be broken.
We are talking about the lives of soldiers and officers, says Kristersson.
On Thursday, a meeting was held in London with representatives from interested countries' defense forces. From Sweden, the head of operational leadership Eva Skog Haslum participated.
Last week, the countries' supreme commanders, including Sweden's ÖB, met in Paris.
This shows that we want to be part of all preparations, says Kristersson.
It is, according to him, necessary if Sweden is to have the opportunity to participate if the peacekeeping force becomes a reality.
We still do not know if this will materialize. And we do not know the terms of participation either, says Kristersson.
"Nothing has changed"
Several EU and NATO countries that have a border with Russia, such as Poland, have stated that they cannot participate, as they need their resources for their own defense.
There has been talk of a force of 10,000 men, mainly consisting of troops from the UK and France. It would not be deployed along the front line.
In connection with Thursday's meeting in London, the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated, according to Financial Times, that they are not only looking at a ground force, but also air and sea defense contributions.
However, there are currently few signs that a peace agreement will be reached.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyj again participated via link at the EU top meeting to update the EU leaders on the situation.
He stated that Russia has continued to attack Ukrainian infrastructure in recent days, despite President Vladimir Putin claiming that Russia is ready to stop attacking energy infrastructure.
So nothing has changed, said Zelenskyj.
At the EU countries' top meeting in Brussels on Thursday, 26 out of 27 participants agreed on a joint statement on the situation in Ukraine.
Among other things, the countries emphasize their continued support for Ukraine and that a peace agreement must respect Ukraine's independence and territorial integrity and offer Ukraine credible security guarantees.
Just like at the last top meeting on March 6, Hungary chose not to support the other countries' opinion.
