Poland currently is not planning to send troops to Ukraine on a peacekeeping mission, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on December 12 following a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Warsaw.

Tusk met Macron less than three weeks before Poland will take over of the rotating presidency of the EU, which will coincide with Donald Trump’s inauguration as the next US president and – possibly – a breakthrough in halting the fighting in Ukraine.

Tusk's diplomacy is part of a series of moves Warsaw has made before it takes over the presidency from Hungary that demonstrate its seriousness and have raised its profile.

Figures in the incoming Trump administration have talked about European forces policing any ceasefire in Ukraine, something that Trump has previously said he could achieve within 24 hours of assuming office.

The Polish PM denied speculation, which appeared in the media prior to the meeting, that part of his talks with Macron concerned sending Polish troops to Ukraine once a ceasefire or other arrangement to stop the fighting – now approaching its third year – had been secured.

“We’re not planning anything like this [and] we’re going to work on solutions to ensure Ukraine and Europe are not in danger of another conflict,” Tusk said in a statement alongside Macron. 

“The US [under President Trump] is going to play a new role in [global] security and we have to work closely with the new US administration to find a solution that will ensure that Ukraine and European interests are met,” Macron said.

Tusk and Macron both emphasised that no solution affecting Ukraine will be made without Kyiv and any agreement to end the fighting will be negotiated by Ukraine and with the aim of securing Ukraine’s interests.

Their comments come as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelinskiy clashed over Orban's hour-long phone call with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, in which he is rumoured to have relayed a message from his recent meeting with Trump. Orban has been actively conducting a freelance diplomatic initiative, claiming to be seeking a ceasefire in the war, but critics argue he is just grandstanding and doing Moscow's bidding.

“No one should boost [their] personal image at the expense of unity,” Zelinskiy fumed on X.  

Tusk reiterated that Poland has borne the “biggest burden” of the EU and Nato countries related to the war in Ukraine by supplying military help and also being the West’s key logistics hub for support flowing in from other allies. 

“We are confident that this is the right thing to do,” Tusk said.

The Polish and French leaders also discussed protecting elections against Russian interference, following the cancellation of the result of the first round of the Romanian presidential elections last week because of a massive Russian social media campaign behind the far-right candidate Călin Georgescu. Both Poland and France hold presidential elections next year.

The pair also discussed issues like the EU’s competitiveness and the coming new “treaty of friendship” between Poland and France, to be signed in early 2025.

France has been jockeying to secure its mighty nuclear power sector becomes eventually involved in Poland’s plan to develop a fleet of nuclear power plants by the mid- to late 2030s.

French financial institutions Bpifrance Assurance Export and Sfil provided Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ), the Polish entity heading the nuclear power project, with letters of intent regarding the financing of Poland’s first nuclear power plant (NPP), amounting to over PLN15bn (€3.5bn), Polish newswire PAP reported on December 12.