MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/. The idea of establishing the so-called "coalition of the willing" to provide military assistance to Ukraine is complete nonsense because NATO’s European members lack the funds, equipment, and troops required for the creation of such forces, General (Ret.) Dominique Delawarde of the Foreign Legion of the French Army, told TASS.
He explained that "today, NATO’s European component is a collection of weaknesses." According to the general, the largest armies of NATO’s European member states, including the UK, France, and Germany, have neither enough personnel nor equipment and also lack the training capacity to form the forces necessary to ensure security.
The general believes that all discussions are currently "limited to dialogues and idle talk that will have no consequences." That said, he sees no prospects for a "coalition of the willing" to emerge in the near future.
In this regard, Delawarde quoted a German Armed Forces general inspector who had said that the German army would not be prepared for such actions earlier than in 2029. The general pointed out that the situation was the same in France, specifying that by 2027, the country’s rapid reaction forces would consist of only one division of 13,000 troops in full combat capacity, which, in his view, wasn't enough to change the situation. Delawarde was also confident that Russia would not allow NATO to deploy troops on its territory - the four new federal entities - regardless of how they were disguised.
In addition, Delawarde pointed to a lack of agreement between the UN and Russia, and since the country has veto power in the Security Council, an operation under the UN auspices would be impossible. "All this is nothing but idle talk that will lead to nothing," he emphasized, adding that politicians were making such statements "to claim a place on the political stage," impress the public or intimidate the people in order to get support or funding.
The French general also touched upon the issue of recruiting and retaining troops that those countries’ armies are facing. Delawarde pointed to personnel shortages and the high share of resignations. He cited data for Germany, where annual recruitment rates are below the required levels, while in France, two regiments worth of personnel resign every year, and a large number of new recruits refuse to remain in military service after a few months. "This will impress neither Russia nor anybody else," Delawarde concluded.