LONDON, Mar 17: The United Kingdom is willing to deploy thousands of troops to Ukraine as peacekeepers with no time limit on their stay, The Times newspaper reported, citing a senior government source.
“It would be a long-term commitment, we are talking about years … As long as it takes to preserve a peace deal and deter Russia,” the source was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has declined to confirm whether the peacekeeping force will be authorized to use lethal force against Russian soldiers in the event of an attack, The Times said, adding that defense chiefs from several countries were planning to meet this week to discuss details of the initiative.
A number of countries, including the UK, France, Turkey, Canada and Australia, are reportedly considering sending up to 30,000 troops to Ukraine. At the same time, Starmer has made it clear that London would not send any force to Ukraine without security guarantees from Washington, the newspaper said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier in March that the presence of NATO states’ troops on Ukrainian territory under any flag, in any capacity, including as peacekeepers, was a threat to Russia, and Moscow would not accept this under any circumstances.
The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service has estimated that the West could deploy some 100,000 troops in Ukraine under the guise of a peacekeeping force to restore its combat capabilities. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has argued that in any conflict the deployment of foreign peacekeepers is only possible with the consent of all parties to the conflict. (UNI)
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