By Barbara Erling and Karol Badohal
WARSAW (Reuters) -Poland has no plans to send troops to neighbouring Ukraine, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday, amid speculation that Western powers could put boots on the ground there if a ceasefire is reached with Russia.
Tusk was speaking after talks in Warsaw with French President Emmanuel Macron, part of diplomatic efforts by European powers to demonstrate to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump that they are keen to assume their share of the burden to end the almost three-year war in Ukraine.
Trump has made clear he will push for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations to end the conflict.
"To cut off speculation about the potential presence of this or that country in Ukraine after reaching a ceasefire... decisions concerning Poland will be made in Warsaw and only in Warsaw," Tusk said. "For now, we do not plan such actions."
Macron said it was up to Ukraine to decide what concessions it wanted to make for the sake of peace but also stressed the importance of Europeans taking responsibility for the security of the whole continent, something thrown into sharp focus by the impending return of Trump to the White House.
Trump has long accused Washington's European allies of not spending enough on defence and relying too much on the U.S.
"There is no security in Europe without the Europeans," said Macron, standing alongside Tusk.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was not present at the talks in Warsaw, but said on Thursday in Berlin that he was in constant contact with Tusk and Macron.
A German government source said talk of ground troops as part of security guarantees for Ukraine was "a bit like doing the fifth step before the second".
DEFENCE FINANCING
Foreign and finance ministers from France, Germany and Poland also met on Thursday, in Berlin and Warsaw respectively, weeks before Poland takes over the EU presidency from Hungary.
In Berlin, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she and her European counterparts agreed that Ukraine needed "tough security guarantees".
"This includes long-term military and financial support for Ukraine," she added.
The finance ministers looked at how to strengthen financial support for Ukraine in the immediate term and how Europe can boost defence financing, including through common debt, though Germany reiterated its opposition to such pooled efforts.
"It is... clear that defence financing remains a national task," German Finance Minister Joerg Kukies told a news conference in Warsaw.
"We already have specific financing instruments for European defence cooperation. It is important that there are limits to what is economically viable and legally possible in this area."