Ukraine is unable to reclaim its lost territory in the country’s east, Erik Prince, the founder and former CEO of private military company Blackwater, said.

"There's no chance that Ukraine is going to retake its lands—the Donetsk, Lugansk, the areas in the east, certainly not Crimea," he said in an interview with Fox News, noting that it is necessary to end the Ukrainian conflict as soon as possible.

"It needs to de-escalate and be done," the Blackwater founder stressed. He expressed hope that US President-elect Donald Trump "can get on it, literally from day one."

Prince also said that Biden’s decision to allow the use of US missiles for strikes deep into Russia was "grossly irresponsible." Moscow’s response with its latest Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile system capable of carrying a nuclear payload demonstrated that "this is not a game that needs to be played any longer."

However, Europe resumes talks of troop deployment to Ukraine

European countries have resumed discussions about the potential deployment of troops or fighters from private military companies to Ukraine, France’s Le Monde newspaper reports, citing unnamed sources.

According to the sources, this is driven by the fact that Washington may scale back support for Ukraine after Donald Trump returns to office as US president on January 20, 2025. The paper claims that the debate resumed after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited France on November 11. However, several EU countries continue to oppose the plans that were first announced by French President Emmanuel Macron at a Paris meeting of Ukraine’s allies in February.

"The UK and France are in talks on defense cooperation, particularly aimed at creating a strong coalition of allies in Europe focused on [assisting] Ukraine and [strengthening] European security in a broader context," an unnamed British defense official told the newspaper. The French leadership and the country’s Defense Ministry haven’t yet given approval to send troops or fighters from private military companies to Ukraine, Le Monde emphasizes. Still, the idea has been under discussion for several months.

 European countries, above all, France and the UK, may dispatch troops to Ukraine to ensure a ceasefire and provide security guarantees to the Kiev regime, Elie Tenenbaum, director of the Security Studies Center at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), told Le Monde.

According to his estimates, European countries may send troops to east Ukraine to ensure the observation of a ceasefire regime and guarantee Kyiv’s security. He noted that in order to do so, European countries must develop a system of Ukraine’s air and naval protection because deploying troops is impossible based on Article 5 of the NATO Charter which provides for the collective defense of participating countries.

The expert believes that nuclear powers such as France and the UK must play a key role in organizing the deployment of troops to Ukraine. The Baltic and Scandinavian countries as well as Poland may also be involved. According to the newspaper, currently Germany appears to be weakened by its domestic political difficulties. Tenenbaum noted that in the event of private military companies sending its fighters to Ukraine, European countries may encounter a number of financial and insurance difficulties. However, according to the expert, the EU may consider other deployment models.

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French President Emmanuel Macron said on February 26 that around 20 Western countries taking part in a Paris meeting on further assistance for Kiev had discussed the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine. According to Macron, no consensus was reached on the issue then, but such a possibility cannot be ruled out in the future. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the deployment of foreign troops to Ukraine would lead to severe, if not irreversible, consequences.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out on November 21 that US-and UK-made missiles had targeted military facilities in Russia’s borderline Kursk and Bryansk regions following a move by the US and its NATO allies to authorize the use of their long-range weapons for strikes against Russia. According to Putin, in retaliation to the attacks, Russia for the first time used its newest Oreshnik non-nuclear intermediate-range ballistic missiles against Ukraine’s Yuzhmash defense industry facility in the city of Dnepropetrovsk (called Dnepr in Ukraine). The Russian leader emphasized that the West could face dire consequences if its provocative policy escalated the conflict further.

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