France's president said Russia should not have a veto of any deployment of foreign peacekeepers to Ukraine as part of a cease-fire deal.
Speaking in an interview with several French newspapers, Emmanuel Macron also said any peacekeeping force would consist of "a few thousand troops per country" to be deployed at several locations. Several European and non-European countries had expressed interest, he said.
"Ukraine is sovereign. If it asks for allied forces to be on its territory, it's not something for Russia to accept or not," Macron said in the interview published late on March 15.
Macron's comments come as European leaders struggle to reach an agreement on the contours of a possible peacekeeping mission.
SEE ALSO: As The World Pushes For Peace, What’s Happening On Ukraine’s Frontlines?After holding talks in Saudi Arabia, Ukrainian and US officials announced on March 11 that Kyiv had agreed to a 30-day cease-fire proposal, contingent on Russia's agreement.
Moscow has so far reacted coolly to the idea, with President Vladimir Putin suggesting additional conditions, including a freeze on US weapons supplies to Kyiv.
Putin also said questions that must be addressed include what happens in Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have been losing ground in recent weeks after a surprise incursion last August, and who might monitor the cease-fire.
Russia has said the deployment of NATO troops would be unacceptable, casting a shadow over Western plans for a potential deployment.
SEE ALSO: What Can Ukraine Learn From NATO's Peacekeeping Mission In Kosovo?Earlier on March 15, British Prime Minister Keir pledged a "willing" coalition of Western countries would also draft plans to protect Ukraine.
At a news conference after a virtual meeting with leaders from 25 other countries and entities, Starmer said Putin's "yes, but" response to the US cease-fire proposal is "not enough."
"If Putin is serious about peace, it's very simple: He has to stop his barbaric attacks on Ukraine and agree to a cease-fire," Starmer said on the video call, which included leaders of European nations as well as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, but not the United States.
"If Russia finally comes to the table, then we must be ready to monitor a cease-fire to ensure it is a serious and enduring peace," Starmer said in a statement. "If they don't, then we need to strain every sinew to ramp up economic pressure on Russia to secure an end to this war."
After the video call, Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, urged Ukraine's Western backers to set out "a clear position on security guarantees," including a potential force to be deployed.
"Peace will be more reliable with European contingents on the ground and the American side as a backstop," he wrote on X.
Overnight, Ukraine and Russia battered each other with drones and missiles, while on the battlefield Russian troops continued their drive to push Ukrainian forces out of Russia's Kursk region.
SEE ALSO: Can Trump Do Anything To Make Putin Accept A Cease-Fire In Ukraine?At least three people were injured in the Russian border region of Belgorod when Ukrainian drones hit a private home in the town of Gubkin, igniting a fire at the site, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Voronezh Governor Aleksandr Gusev said air-defense units in three districts had destroyed more than 15 Ukrainian drones. There were no immediate reports of casualties, he said.
Meanwhile, in the Ukrainian town of Nikopol, a 70-year-old woman was killed by artillery, local military administrator Serhiy Lysak reported.
In Chernihiv, local authorities said Russian drones had hit a five-story building, destroying the top two floors. Casualty figures were not immediately available, with officials saying rescue services were at the site.
Ukrainian media also reported a number of explosions were seen near the capital, Kyiv, after authorities issued a warning of possible drone attacks in the region.
Ukraine's biggest private energy provider, DTEK, said on March 15 that Russian air strikes caused "significant" damage to its energy facilities in the Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions and that some consumers in both regions were left without power.
SEE ALSO: Kursk Ambush: Did Russia Pull Off Another Pipeline Sneak Attack On Ukrainian Troops?Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, after seizing Crimea and fomenting war in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region eight years earlier.
President Donald Trump, who has made ending the war a prominent goal, dispatched a key envoy, Steve Witkoff, to meet with Putin in Moscow days after the US-Ukrainian talks in Riyadh.
Speaking on CNN on March 16, Witkoff described his meetings with Putin, which he said lasted around three to four hours as "a solutions-based discussion." He also said he expected Trump and Putin to speak on the phone in the coming week.
"The two sides are today a lot closer," he said. "We've narrowed the differences."