The Times: Europe Unable to Gather 25,000 Troops for Deterrence Forces in Ukraine
Europe will not be able to assemble a 25,000-strong force to establish deterrence forces on Ukrainian territory.
The Times reported on this, citing its own sources.
The creation of a 25,000-strong force with rotational capabilities has become unfeasible due to a shortage of active personnel in European armies.
In addition to the actual troop numbers, countries such as the United Kingdom and France have their own contingents stationed in other regions of the world, which prevents them from forming a cohesive force for long-term deployment in Ukraine.
It is worth noting that Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the Chief of the UK Defence Staff, who had advocated for the formation of a 64,000-strong force, was met with refusal due to the limited ground forces of continental European countries.
Furthermore, currently, only two countries — the United Kingdom and France — have openly discussed the possibility of deploying their troops on Ukrainian territory. However, due to the lack of significant support from other European nations, they are currently planning only a limited involvement of military personnel as instructors and for training purposes.
These discussions took place during the “coalition of the willing” meeting on April 10. Following that, the debate continued in Brussels among a smaller group of defence ministers, where allies expressed their views more candidly.
European partners expressed their concerns to Secretary of State John Healey, noting that sustaining a continuous presence of 25,000 troops for two years with rotations would require the deployment of around 256,000 servicemen.
“Russia has 800,000 troops. I’ll put it this way: if we can’t even gather 64,000, it’s not just a sign of weakness — it is weakness,” Dovilė Šakalienė, the Minister of Defence of Lithuania, stated.
Militarnyi reported that the United Kingdom may abandon plans to send thousands of troops to protect Ukraine, as such actions are considered too risky.
It is noted that a change in the format of military support may force Moscow to reconsider its “red lines” to reach a peace agreement.
Instead, British and French military instructors should be deployed to western Ukraine.
