European leaders are away from plans to send troops to strengthen Ukraine’s defenses due to logistical issues and a clear lack of US support, officials said.
Ukraine’s support for European troops is a so-called “rejoiced coalition” looking for other ideas to support Kiev ahead of 30 countries’ summits on Thursday, a diplomat who told Reuters.
“They are taking a step back from the ground forces and trying to redimensionalize what they were doing in a more wiser way,” said one diplomat.
“The idea of sending the troops appealed when Ukraine was in a better position,” another added. “But now, the ground situation and the US administration are still the same, and that’s not too sexy.”
French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Kiel Starmer had suggested that Europe could provide thousands of soldiers to maintain peace in Ukraine if a ceasefire contract was reached.
President Trump initially praised the proposal during Macron’s meeting with the star last month, but his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, made it laugh as “position and pose.”
Rather than discussing Ukrainian peacekeeping forces, this week’s Paris conference will focus on how to strengthen Ukrainian troops and monitor the uneasy ceasefire agreements the United States has secured in the face of Russian rebellion.
This change came when the idea of sending troops to Ukraine without international missions and guarantees from the United States.
The concern lies in the costs, talent and equipment needed to deploy substantial military forces to maintain peace. The fear also fears that a direct conflict with Russia could end the move, officials said.
The focus of the consultation appears to have changed, but Europe has not yet completely abandoned its plans to deploy its troops in Ukraine.
“That doesn’t mean that individual countries will not deploy soldiers to Ukraine to provide training or other support,” a senior European official told Reuters.
Europe has previously committed to sending military officers to train tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers to the future, part of the Porcupine Strategy, which aims to strengthen Kiev.
Moscow has repeatedly stated that it would never agree to a peace proposal, including the existence of a NATO member state in Ukraine.
With post wire
