PARIS, November 25. /TASS/. European countries, above all, France and the UK, may dispatch troops to Ukraine to ensure a ceasefire and provide security guarantees to the Kiev regime, Elie Tenenbaum, director of the Security Studies Center at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), told Le Monde.
According to his estimates, European countries may send troops to east Ukraine to ensure the observation of a ceasefire regime and guarantee Kiev’s security. He noted that in order to do so, European countries must develop a system of Ukraine’s air and naval protection because deploying troops is impossible based on Article 5 of the NATO Charter which provides for the collective defense of participating countries.
The expert believes that nuclear powers such as France and the UK must play a key role in organizing the deployment of troops to Ukraine. The Baltic and Scandinavian countries as well as Poland may also be involved. According to the newspaper, currently Germany appears to be weakened by its domestic political difficulties. Tenenbaum noted that in the event of private military companies sending its fighters to Ukraine, European countries may encounter a number of financial and insurance difficulties. However, according to the expert, the EU may consider other deployment models.
On Monday, Le Monde reported that European countries resumed discussions over sending Western troops and fighters from private defense companies to Ukraine. According to the newspaper, this is driven by the fact that Washington may scale back support for Ukraine after Donald Trump returns to office as US president on January 20, 2025. The paper claims that the debate resumed after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited France on November 11. However, several EU countries continue to oppose the plans that were first announced by French President Emmanuel Macron at a Paris meeting of Ukraine’s allies in February.
Macron said on February 26 that around 20 Western countries taking part in a Paris meeting on further assistance for Kiev had discussed the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine. According to the French president, no consensus was reached on the issue then, but such a possibility cannot be ruled out in the future. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the deployment of foreign troops to Ukraine would lead to severe, if not irreversible, consequences.