PRAGUE, Sept 4 — Nato chief Mark Rutte said today that Russia has no veto over whether Western powers can deploy troops to Ukraine as part of security guarantees if a truce is reached.

“Why are we interested in what Russia thinks about troops in Ukraine? It’s a sovereign country. It’s not for them to decide,” Rutte said.

“Russia has nothing to do with this.”

Leaders from a so-called coalition of the willing, spearheaded by France and Britain, are meeting today to finalise contributions to the planned security guarantees.

“If Ukraine wants to have security guarantee forces in Ukraine to support a peace deal, it’s up to them. Nobody else can decide about it,” Rutte said during a visit to Prague.

“I think we really have to stop making Putin too powerful,” he added, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia has repeatedly stated it is firmly opposed to any Western troop deployments in Ukraine as part of a possible peace settlement.

Western diplomats say that the group of roughly 30 countries discussing a possible “reassurance force” for Ukraine now have concrete numbers of troops they could commit.

European nations hope that by putting a clear plan on the table, they can convince US President Donald Trump to follow through on his promise to provide American military backing.

Trump has been pushing to end the war, but the Kremlin has stalled efforts to organise direct talks between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. — AFP