Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world
Donald Trump suggested deploying Chinese troops as peacekeepers in postwar Ukraine, lending support to a proposal first put forward by Russia’s Vladimir Putin, according to four people briefed on discussions.
Trump proposed inviting China to supply peacekeepers to monitor a neutral zone along Ukraine’s 1,300km front line as part of a peace settlement with Russia in a meeting with European leaders and Ukraine’s president at the White House last week, according to the people.
“This is false,” said a senior Trump administration official, adding there had been “no discussion of Chinese peacekeepers”.
The idea is opposed by European capitals and has previously been rejected by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy because of Beijing’s critical support for Russia’s war effort.
Last week’s meeting was part of ongoing discussions on enforcing a possible ceasefire, western security guarantees to be provided to Ukraine and the structure of any post-conflict settlement.
Trump has pushed the two sides to agree a peace deal, but Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on important details, including postwar territorial control.
Senior military and political officials from the US, Ukraine and major European capitals have discussed a structure in which a demilitarised zone patrolled by neutral peacekeepers would be put in place as the first layer of a peace settlement.
Russian representatives first raised the idea of Chinese peacekeepers in the context of a security guarantee framework during early negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul in the spring of 2022.
Russia’s proposal at the time stated that “guarantor states” that were signatories to a future peace treaty — the US, UK, France, China and Russia — would come to Ukraine’s defence in the event of a new attack on the country.
That arrangement was and remains a non-starter for Ukraine, since Russia was proposing that all guarantor states would have to approve any response if Ukraine were attacked, meaning Russia would wield a veto over any military intervention.
The earlier Russian proposal was made when Moscow held significant leverage as it occupied territory around Kyiv. Zelenskyy abandoned those talks after his troops pushed the Russians out of the region and uncovered evidence of war crimes in towns north of the capital.
China has said it is open to playing a “constructive role” in resolving the war after Russia more recently suggested Beijing could be one of the guarantors of Ukrainian security under a peace deal.
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov suggested this month that permanent UN Security Council members, which include Russia and China, could underpin a security guarantee for Ukraine in a settlement that ends the Kremlin’s war.
China’s foreign ministry said this week, however, that media reports that Beijing had offered to participate in a peacekeeping force for Ukraine were “not true”.
The idea is almost certain to be rejected by Zelenskyy, who has said he would not support a peacekeeping force of Chinese troops.
“Why is China not in the guarantees? First, China did not help us stop this war from the beginning. Second, China helped Russia by opening the drone market,” Zelenskyy said this month.
“They did nothing when Crimea was occupied. That is why we do not need guarantors who do not help Ukraine and did not help Ukraine at a time when we really needed it after [Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022].”
In April, Zelenskyy accused China of supplying Russia with weapons and helping it with arms production. He also said Beijing was doing nothing to stop Russia enlisting Chinese nationals to fight in Ukraine, showing evidence gathered by Ukrainian intelligence that at least 155 such recruits had been deployed to the battlefield.
Ukraine has shown openness to Turkish forces being part of the peacekeeping mission that Kyiv and its western partners are currently outlining as part of a postwar plan.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told Zelenskyy on Thursday that Ankara was ready to host any high-level talks between Kyiv and Moscow, and that it would contribute to Ukraine’s security if peace was achieved. Three rounds of peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials have taken place in Istanbul since March but have failed to achieve meaningful progress beyond large-scale prisoner exchanges.
“Turkey continues its efforts for the war to end with a permanent peace, and with the establishment of peace Turkey will continue to contribute to Ukraine’s security,” the president’s office said.
Turkey, a Nato member, has always cast itself as a peacemaker during the war. Lately it has also suggested this could include the planning and deploying of a peacekeeping force, particularly in the Black Sea, as part of any final deal agreed with Russia.
European officials have said they could accept Turkey in this role.
Additional reporting by Joe Leahy in Beijing
