By Andrew Korybko
Andrew Korybko's Newsletter
January 15, 2026
It might be a negotiating tactic to pressure Russia into concessions on its maximalist goals in the conflict as a quid pro quo for not reprioritizing Russia's containment over China's by extending Article 5 to NATO states' troops in Ukraine and thus reducing the odds that they'll actually deploy there.
France and the UK recently committed to deploying troops to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire as part of their latest proposed security guarantees to that country, the principle of which was praised for the first time ever by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the US' Special Envoys for talks with Russia.