The combined contingent of European countries on the territory of Ukraine may be the first step towards creating a united European Armed Forces that will fight with the Russian Federation in the event of its repeated aggression, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

"I believe that we have made great progress on the issue of the contingent," Zelenskyy said during a video message with reporters on Monday following a visit to the UAE.

As an Interfax-Ukraine agency correspondent reports, he noted that there are skeptical countries on this issue, and, in his opinion, they will remain in their positions.

"But I see that the issue of the contingent, the issue of the European army as a whole may have such a first step. What I said about the European Armed Forces, the first step is when there is a Ukrainian army and there are European Armed Forces on the territory of Ukraine. I believe that this is the first platform for the future creation of such a force - the Armed Forces of Europe, an army that, in the sky, on water, on land, with drones in artificial intelligence, etc., will be able to respond in the event of an unprovoked war by Russia," Zelenskyy said.

The President added that today “there is a live platform on this issue of forming a contingent - not paper agreements, not conversations about who is interfering with what, which alliance is which, not conversations about shortsightedness or something, but concrete ones.”

"We can create a platform of strong countries, only those who want to. It is very important. Not those whom we force, but those who want to. You know this very well - a warrior who was forced or a warrior who came by himself is a completely different army. And I really want us to come to this that way. We want security guarantees not on paper, but on land, on water, in the sky, on air defense, planes, ships," the head of state said.

He recalled the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron, which he began to further develop with him, the support of the initiative by the countries of Northern Europe, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. "I think it's normal for this start," Zelenskyy said.

At the same time, he noted that "a contingent does not necessarily mean that military personnel from all countries" should be present there. "For example, air defense, Patriots, which can only be provided by the United States of America today. This is not an offensive, but it is protection, which is no less important. Is this a security guarantee for us? Yes. That is, the issue with the systems. Are you ready to give us those systems, 10-20 systems," the head of state said.

Zelenskyy stressed that in the matter of the foreign contingent, "it is very important not to lose the United States of America in one form or another."