Keir Starmer believes a “significant number” of countries will come together to form his “coalition of the willing”, his spokesperson has said. On Saturday, Starmer hosted leaders of 26 nations via video call to discuss plans for continued European support of Ukraine following Kyiv’s agreement to a proposed ceasefire by the United States.
Military chiefs will meet on Thursday to outline and plan what Starmer calls the “operational phase” of the alliance’s plan to protect Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force in the event of a ceasefire. Starmer believes that as many as “30 countries” could contribute in some way, although he declined to say who these countries were. Notably, the United States was not present for the meeting.
Starmer said: “The contribution capabilities will vary, but this will be a significant force, with a significant number of countries providing troops and a larger group contributing in other ways.”
Russia has repeatedly insisted that any ceasefire hinges on promises that no NATO soldiers will be used to police any buffer zone between the two countries.
When asked about the potential for escalation if Russia opened fire on troops from a NATO ally, the PM’s spokesperson said: “It’s worth remembering that Russia didn’t ask Ukraine when it deployed troops.
“We’ve got operational planning meetings that they are going through.”
A spokesperson for the PM refused to confirm whether or not the United States would have a presence at Thursday’s meeting, but did say the UK is having “regular discussions with our American counterparts”.
It remains to be seen what the make up of a peacekeeping force will comprise of and how many troops the UK would be willing or able to contribute.
Defence industry analyst and Land Warfare specialist Nicholas Drummond said: “The British Army struggled to maintain a force of 10,000 in Afghanistan, even when its total headcount exceeded 110,000.
“When it comes to deploying troops to Ukraine, it’s delusional to think a reduced Army of 70,000 will be better able to sustain 10,000 troops.”
On Monday evening, a White House spokesperson said that peace between Ukraine and Russia had never been closer ahead of a planned discussion between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
Last week, the Russian leader said that he would be open to the possibility of a ceasefire but reiterated that a lot of questions need to be answered before his country is able to agree.
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