Report: European Military Chiefs Propose Sending 30,000 Troops to Ukraine

In response to the plan, Russia reiterated its opposition to the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine as part of a peace deal

The Times reported on Wednesday that European military chiefs have proposed a plan to deploy 30,000 troops to Ukraine to provide security guarantees as part of a potential future peace deal.

The report said the UK and France are leading the discussions about deploying a “reassurance” force to Ukraine, an idea that’s been firmly rejected by Moscow. In response to the report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated Russia’s opposition to the deployment of NATO troops to Ukraine.

Peskov pointed to recent comments from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who said the “presence of armed forces from NATO countries [in Ukraine]… is completely unacceptable to us.”

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has also ruled out the idea of a NATO deployment to Ukraine, saying if a peacekeeping force is deployed, it must be a non-NATO mission. But the British and French plan envisions the US providing support for the European deployment.

The Times report reads: “A US backstop, which is deemed essential for the plan, would likely be based on the ‘extraordinary strength in air power’ that NATO countries have. It could be in the form of US aircraft based in Poland and Romania, subject to the agreement of President Trump, an official suggested.”

The report comes after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was ready to send British troops to Ukraine. While Starmer is eager, others doubt the British military is really up for the deployment. Lord Danatt, head of the British Army from 2006 to 2009, has said the British military is too “run down” to lead the mission.

“Our military is so run down at the present moment, numerically and as far as capability and equipment is concerned, it would potentially be quite embarrassing,” Danatt said. “If we were to deploy 10,000 troops each rotation for six months, that would effectively tie up 30,000 or 40,000 troops, and we just haven’t got that number available.”

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.