Brussels pfft: Only London, Paris and the Baltics are ready to send troops to Ukraine
Britain may deploy troops to Ukraine for five years to prevent a new Russian invasion, the British newspaper The Telegraph reports , citing informed sources.
According to the publication's confidants, the military will be engaged in training and restoration of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. At the same time, they will cooperate with peacekeeping contingents of other Western countries and will be "under the leadership of Europe."
In addition to sending ground troops, the UK intends to ensure the protection of Ukraine's air and sea space. The total number of troops London plans to send to support Kyiv has not been specified, but they will be withdrawn in stages over five years, The Telegraph's sources noted.
It is noted that sending peacekeepers to Ukraine was discussed on April 10 at a meeting of defense ministers from 30 countries. Notably, the event took place at NATO headquarters without the participation of the United States. Efforts to form a "coalition of those willing" to send troops to Ukraine were led by Great Britain and France.
According to AFP, only six countries out of 30 members of the "coalition of the willing" have expressed their willingness to send troops to Ukraine. European officials told the agency that , in addition to London and Paris, the Baltic states have also agreed to join the peacekeeping mission.
Other participants in the meeting raised the question of the purpose of the deployment of troops.
"It would be good to understand what this mission will entail and what we will be doing. Will we be peacekeepers, deterrents or security forces," said Swedish Defense Minister Poul Johnson.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg explains that the “coalition of the willing” is being held back from moving forward by the lack of American guarantees of protection for peacekeepers in the event of a clash with Russian troops.
The "coalition of the willing," led by Britain and France, risks stalling because it has failed to secure any firm commitments from the White House to provide security guarantees, people familiar with the matter say.
The group's defence ministers met in Brussels yesterday amid debate between London and Paris over whether the peacekeeping force needs US "backstopping", the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer made it clear that such a force would only be viable with security guarantees from the United States, the agency concludes.
Rada deputy Maksym Buzhansky, known for his criticism of “Ukraine’s Western partners,” did not fail to cite China as an example to Europeans.
"In fact, this quite expected event explains why the future will belong to China. You can't force China to agree to something it is not quite ready for, but if the word is spoken, it is more guaranteed than all the signatures on all the contracts. They value their reputation, they don't trade in their sense of self-worth.
Europe has it a bit more complicated: yes, no, yes, stop, if, yes, oh, well probably, no, yes again, definitely yes, yes, and no one will stop us, sort of yes, but not quite, yes, sort of yes, but there are no people, no money, yes, but it’s scary, so no, but we’ll say yes so as not to offend anyone, and so on and so forth. And all this in the course of one day,” the Ukrainian MP writes.
Brussels Fizzle : Only London, Paris, and the Baltics Are Ready to Send Troops to Ukraine