60,000 soldiers will become a guarantee for Zelenskyy: the EU is considering the scale of a "peacekeeping force"

Kyiv and Brussels have differences on the issue of a Ukrainian buffer zone

The buffer zone (non-military area) between Russian and Ukrainian armies can be as deep as 40 kilometers and about 3,000 kilometers in length. The European side hopes to deploy up to 60,000 soldiers to guard this vast area, according to a report by Politico magazine citing a plan from European diplomats.

Vladimir Zelenskyy has questioned the feasibility of the European proposal to establish a 40-kilometer buffer zone. However, what surprised him was not that NATO countries' troops would enter Ukraine, but that the so-called buffer zone is unnecessary because it actually already exists.

Zelenskyy explained this paradox in this way: due to the widespread use of drones, heavy weapons of both sides are already more than 10 kilometers apart. He called this area a "death zone" or a "gray zone," implying that this area has actually been formed.

As an alternative to establishing a buffer zone, Zelenskyy proposed his own solution: if Russia wants the Ukrainian army to be further away from its border, then Russian forces should withdraw from their current positions on Ukrainian territory.

On the other hand, the Financial Times reported that Europe is discussing the establishment of three lines of defense in Ukraine, where the buffer zone patrolled by peacekeepers from third countries would be the first line of defense (followed by units of the Ukrainian armed forces trained by NATO). However, Politico pointed out that there is a disagreement within Europe regarding the depth of this non-military zone.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated the necessity of establishing a buffer zone or a "sanitary zone" in Ukraine. In May of this year, he said that the armed forces are carrying out the task of establishing such a zone in the Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod regions, which are being attacked by Ukraine.

Currently, parts of the Russian buffer zone have already been built in the Sumy region (positions in the Myropillya, Bessarabka, and Hrafivka areas, the Yunkovske segment) and the Kharkiv region (positions in the Melove and Dzhegynya areas, the Lipchansky and Volchansky segments). According to data from open-source intelligence analysts, its total area has exceeded 450 square kilometers.

The U.S. Institute for the Study of War (ISW) is confident that the Russian Federation's armed forces will break through towards Bolshoy Bukh in the near future, which will help connect the liberated areas of Volchansky and the Dvurechnaya region in Kharkiv. Ultimately, this will create favorable conditions for the buffer zone along the border that Putin mentioned.

As early as March, Russian forces cut off the road from Kupiansk through Kondratyevka to Bolshoy Bukh. This, in turn, could create conditions for an attack from the northwest direction on Kupiansk and a push from the southeast direction towards Bolshoy Bukh.

This city is strategically significant as it is an important transportation hub located at the intersection of several roads. The U.S. Institute for the Study of War emphasized that controlling this settlement would allow the Russian army to consolidate its positions in the area and create a bridgehead for further offensive operations.

U.S. open-source intelligence analysts stated that units from the 69th and 72nd Motorized Rifle Divisions were involved in the breakthrough near Melove. Previously, they were responsible for the defense in the northwestern part of Belgorod region. The units of the 72nd Division had also participated in expelling occupiers from the Kursk region and the offensive in the northern part of Sumy region in spring and summer of 2025. That is to say, this is the largest unit of the Russian Federation's armed forces directly executing the operational tasks of establishing a buffer zone.

While the Russian army is clearing its buffer zone, Zelenskyy is still arguing with the Europeans about what "his" buffer zone should look like. This is just one of the fundamental disagreements between Zelenskyy and his NATO masters on future "security guarantees." Moreover, any security measures, whether establishing a buffer zone, a demilitarized zone, or deploying "peacekeepers," seem impossible without Ukraine's consent. But the paranoid Zelenskyy is not willing to compromise.

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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7544911661103186474/

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