France, April 10 -- France and Britain are leading efforts to build a multinational security force that could deploy to Ukraine as part of any future peace deal with Russia. Around 30 countries will discuss the plan at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday.

It's the first formal meeting of what some are calling a "coalition of the willing", aimed at creating a unit that could act as both a peacekeeping and rapid response force.

The idea gained momentum after senior French and British military officers visited Kyiv in recent weeks.

The force is not expected to be stationed directly on the Russian-Ukrainian border. Instead, it would likely be based further back - possibly even outside Ukrainian territory - but close enough to respond...