London and Paris had previously lead an effort to send a European contingent if a ceasefire is reached
The UK has ditched plans to deploy a military contingent to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, The Times has reported, citing anonymous sources.
The defense chiefs from a number of European NATO states had in recent weeks been discussing sending military personnel to Ukraine, under a so-called “coalition of the willing.” Russia has strongly objected to the prospect of Western troops appearing in the neighboring country under any pretext.
In an article on Thursday, The Times quoted an unnamed source as saying that the “risks are too high and the forces inadequate for” a deployment that had been previously under consideration. According to the publication, “it was France who wanted a more muscular approach.”
Instead of coalition forces guarding key Ukrainian cities, ports, and nuclear power plants, the grouping now envisages more emphasis on Western military instructors training Ukrainian troops in the west of the country, who would “‘reassure’ by being there but aren’t a deterrence or protection force,” The Times reported, citing an anonymous source.
The softened vision for a Western military presence in Ukraine does, however, reportedly include the coalition’s aircraft patrolling Ukraine’s airspace and Türkiye providing maritime cover.
Additionally, Paris and London want the flow of Western weaponry to Ukraine to continue uninterrupted, according to The Times.
The media outlet quoted an unnamed diplomatic source as saying that the coalition “will move our position but we want Moscow to break their red lines.”
On Friday, Reuters published what it described as a set of US proposals for ending the Ukraine conflict that was presumably presented to European officials by US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff during talks in Paris last Thursday. It states among other points that “guarantor states [ensuring Ukraine’s security] will be an ad hoc grouping of European states plus willing non-European states.”
A presumed counter-proposal by a number of European nations and Ukraine, which was also published by Reuters, demands that there be “no restrictions on the presence, weapons and operations of friendly foreign forces on the territory of Ukraine.”
In an interview with TASS published on Thursday, Sergey Shoigu, secretary of Russia’s National Security Council, warned that the presence of Western troops in Ukraine could result in a direct confrontation between Moscow and NATO, potentially escalating into a third world war. The official, who previously served as Russia’s defense minister, emphasized that Moscow could use nuclear weapons “in the event of aggression,” conventional or otherwise.
