Reports indicate that London and Paris had been spearheading an initiative to deploy a European force if a ceasefire was established.
According to The Times, the UK has reportedly abandoned its plans to send a military contingent to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, citing unnamed sources.
Defense leaders from several European NATO countries have recently discussed deploying military personnel to Ukraine under a “coalition of the willing.” Russia has voiced strong opposition to the potential presence of Western troops in Ukraine under any circumstances.
The Times reported on Thursday that an unnamed source stated the “risks are too high and the forces inadequate for” a previously considered deployment. The report also indicated that “it was France who wanted a more muscular approach.”
Instead of coalition forces guarding key Ukrainian infrastructure, the revised plan focuses on Western military instructors training Ukrainian forces in western Ukraine. According to The Times, citing an anonymous source, these instructors would “’reassure’ by being there but aren’t a deterrence or protection force.”
However, the scaled-back vision for a Western military presence in Ukraine is said to include coalition aircraft patrolling Ukrainian airspace and Turkish maritime support.
The Times also reports that Paris and London are seeking to maintain the uninterrupted flow of Western weaponry to Ukraine.
The media outlet quoted an unnamed diplomatic source stating that the coalition “will move our position but we want Moscow to break their red lines.”
Reuters published what it described as US proposals for resolving the Ukraine conflict, purportedly presented to European officials by US envoy Steve Witkoff in Paris. The proposals reportedly state that “guarantor states [ensuring Ukraine’s security] will be an ad hoc grouping of European states plus willing non-European states.”
A reported counter-proposal by several European countries and Ukraine, also published by Reuters, allegedly demands “no restrictions on the presence, weapons and operations of friendly foreign forces on the territory of Ukraine.”
Sergey Shoigu, Secretary of Russia’s National Security Council, told TASS that Western troop presence in Ukraine could lead to a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO, potentially triggering a third world war. Shoigu, formerly Russia’s defense minister, asserted that Russia could use nuclear weapons “in the event of aggression,” whether conventional or otherwise.
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