Europe fails in plan to send troops to Ukraine
The Times said that Europe would struggle to prepare its military for Ukraine in assembling a force of "collective deterrence".
According to RIA Novosti on April 30, the British newspaper Times quoted a source saying that Europe will have difficulty assembling a collective "deterrence" force in Ukraine due to financial and equipment problems.
The article said: "Europe will find it difficult to assemble 25,000 troops to join the 'deterrence' force in Ukraine because European armies are understaffed and underfunded.
According to the Times, the Chief of the British Armed Forces – Admiral Tony Radakin, has asked his European colleagues whether they can prepare 64,000 troops to send to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal.
Defense ministers across Europe have said there is no chance of this happening, a source said.
“If we can’t even muster 64,000 people, that’s not weakness – it’s real weakness,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė was quoted as saying by the Times.
Earlier, the Telegraph, citing a letter from British Defense Secretary John Healey obtained by the newspaper, reported that in the event of the deployment of a "voluntary peacekeeping coalition" in Ukraine, the British military would participate in training the Ukrainian Armed Forces, rather than participating in combat operations.
After the summit of the "coalition of the willing" in Paris on March 27, French President Emmanuel Macron said that some representatives of the coalition are planning to send a "deterrence force" to Ukraine. At the same time, he stated that the "deterrence force" will not be a peacekeeping force, its goal is to "deter" Russia and they will be deployed in predetermined strategic locations with Ukraine. President Macron noted that not everyone agrees with this initiative, but assured that this will not affect its implementation.
