KYIV, Ukraine, Dec 10, (AP): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that he's open to the potential deployment of Western troops in Ukraine to guarantee the country’s security as part of a broad effort to end the almost three-year war with Russia. The deployment would be a step toward Ukraine joining NATO, Zelenskyy said in a post on his Telegram channel. "But before that, we must have a clear understanding of when Ukraine will be in the European Union and when Ukraine will be in NATO,” Zelenskyy said.

His proposals tread a delicate diplomatic path amid international efforts to find a way of ending Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II at a time when Russia has gained an upper hand in the fighting. US President-elect Donald Trump is seeking to bring about a ceasefire and met with Zelenskyy in Paris on Saturday. But Zelenskyy said Monday that he would approach outgoing US President Joe Biden about Ukraine’s possible NATO membership because he's still in office, while Trump doesn't yet have "legal rights” to decide on the matter.

"He wants to have a cease-fire,” Trump said of Zelenskyy in comments to the New York Post published Sunday. "He wants to make peace. We didn’t talk about the details.” Putin’s forces are taking heavy losses in Ukraine, Trump noted. "I’m formulating a concept of how to end that ridiculous war,” he said. The possibilities of Ukraine joining the 32-nation NATO military alliance and of Western troops being stationed on its soil have been deeply divisive and contentious issues since Russia’s full-scale invasion began on Feb 24, 2022. At their summit in Washington in July, NATO declared Ukraine on an "irreversible” path to membership, but stopped short of inviting the country in.

The United States and Germany have balked at Ukraine joining NATO while at war with Russia. One obstacle has been the view that Ukraine’s borders would need to be clearly demarcated before it could join so that there can be no mistaking where the alliance’s pact of mutual defense would come into effect. Russia’s invading army occupies about one-fifth of Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron floated the idea of Western troops on the ground in Ukraine last February. But it raised the same fears of escalation that have led Western leaders to place limits on weapons supplies and permissions for their use.