French President Emmanuel Macron has held talks with representatives of parliamentary parties in an attempt to secure their backing for the possible deployment of French troops to Ukraine after a settlement, but not all political forces support the idea, the newspaper Monde reports.

The closed-door meeting at the Elysee Palace lasted nearly three hours and was attended by Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, Defense Minister Catherine Vautrin, Chief of the General Staff General Fabien Mandon, as well as the speakers of the National Assembly and the Senate, Yael Bron-Pivet and Gerard Larcher. According to the newspaper, Macron presented lawmakers with a plan to deploy several thousand French soldiers to Ukraine following the signing of a peace agreement.

Several parties expressed reservations or opposition. Representatives of the left-wing party La France Insoumise said they would insist on a United Nations mandate for any deployment of French troops. The French Communist Party took a similar stance, citing fears of renewed violence and supporting the idea of a UN peacekeeping mission. The right-wing National Rally also demanded a UN mandate for the deployment, Monde notes.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has previously stated that any scenario involving the deployment of NATO member states' troops to Ukraine is categorically unacceptable for Russia and carries the risk of sharp escalation. Statements about the possible deployment of alliance forces in Ukraine, made in the United Kingdom and other European countries, were described by the ministry as incitement to prolong the fighting.