The possible deployment of foreign peacekeeping troops in Ukraine could be raised at a meeting of European leaders in Brussels, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says.
The meeting to discuss support for Ukraine, almost three years after Russia's full-scale invasion, will gather the leaders of Germany, France, Poland and the NATO military alliance, among others, according to sources.
The Ukrainian leader publicly floated the idea of foreign troops being deployed until Ukraine could join NATO during a meeting with a German politician on December 9.
The possibility was first raised by French President Emmanuel Macron in February but no consensus was reached among European leaders on the matter.
Answering questions from reporters about it potentially being discussed in Brussels, Zelenskiy said that "everyone who will be there has the right to raise this or that issue".
"There could be questions not only about the (foreign) contingent but also questions that Ukraine will raise," he told a joint press conference with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Lviv.
Zelenskiy said the urgent strengthening of Ukraine would be the main thing to discuss.
He mentioned long-range defence capabilities, allied investment in Ukrainian weapons production and security guarantees among other topics.
The meeting comes at a crucial point as Ukraine urges its allies to bolster it both on the battlefield and diplomatically before any potential talks with Russia.
US president-elect Donald Trump, who returns to White House in January, has repeatedly called for a ceasefire and said Zelenskiy should be prepared to make a deal to end the war.
Tusk reiterated that Poland was not considering sending troops but said his country would do everything in its power to make Ukraine's NATO membership a real possibility.
"We all need to focus on ensuring that any talks on a ceasefire are not conducted from a position of strength on the Russian side, meaning that Ukraine can be sure of the full support of all countries involved in helping Ukraine," Tusk said.
Meanwhile, a senior Russian general was killed on Tuesday by a bomb hidden in a scooter outside his apartment building in Moscow, a day after Ukraine’s security service levelled criminal charges against him.
A Ukrainian official said the service carried out the attack.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the chief of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, was killed as he left for his office.
Kirillov’s assistant also died in the attack.
Kirillov, 54, was under sanctions from several countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada, for his actions in Russia's war in Ukraine.
On Monday, Ukraine’s Security Service, or SBU, opened a criminal investigation against him, accusing him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons.
An official with the SBU said the agency was behind the attack.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to release the information, described Kirillov as a "war criminal and an entirely legitimate target".
The SBU has said it recorded more than 4800 occasions when Russia used chemical weapons on the battlefield since its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Russia has denied using any chemical weapons in Ukraine and in turn has accused Ukrainian forces of using toxic agents in combat.
Kirillov, who took his current job in 2017, was one of the most high-profile figures to level those accusations.
He held numerous briefings to accuse the Ukrainian military of using toxic agents and planning to launch attacks with radioactive substances - claims that Ukraine and its allies rejected as propaganda.
