“Britain and France could send up to 15,000 troops to Ukraine after a peace deal.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Illustrative photo: Sid10/Depositphotos Source: this was learned by The Times from military and diplomatic sources, “European Truth” reports
Details: Britain’s military leadership initially proposed sending 10,000 troops as part of a wider “coalition of volunteers” of 64,000, but this was deemed unfeasible by the Ministry of Defense given the current size of the British army.
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Fewer than 7,500 British soldiers are expected to be deployed, according to two military sources, although that figure will also be challenging for Britain, which has only about 71,000 trained troops in the regular army.
France is the only other country that has committed to sending troops to Ukraine, and they are expected to make up the rest of the deployment, which will take place in the relatively safe western part of the country, far from the front lines.
Several sources have suggested that even the total of 15,000 troops is optimistic. Germany is ready to deploy troops near Ukraine, possibly in Poland or Romania, a military source added.
A diplomatic source said that different scenarios would lead to different figures, depending on the outcome of the peace talks. President Macron said on Tuesday that several thousand French soldiers could be deployed in Ukraine as a “reassurance force”. “These are not forces that will engage in combat,” he told France 2.
According to the plan, British and French forces will help train the Ukrainian army and oversee the construction of “secure facilities” to store weapons and military equipment that can be used to support Ukraine’s defense.
Senior Defense Department officials believe Putin will not violate the Trump-brokered ceasefire because of concerns about how the US president might respond.
The day before, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a declaration of intentions to deploy troops in Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement.