Brussels (EFE).- Several countries in the Coalition of the Willing to provide security guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire with Russia stressed on Thursday the importance of United States , even though Washington has ruled out sending military forces onto Ukrainian soil.
The United Kingdom and convened the “coalition of the willing” at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday.
Arriving for the meeting, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, stressed that they would try to “keep the US on board.”
“It is also in the interest of the US to have stability and peace in Europe, because what happens in Ukraine and how this war ends has repercussions in other security theatres, such as the Asia-Pacific,” she told the press.
Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen stressed that “the US remains a crucial player in ensuring lasting security” in Ukraine.
“That is why we insist that the US must be involved somehow,” he stressed.
Dutch incumbent Ruben Brekelmans said it was “important to have US involvement, also in of training.”
“It’s good that the US is very explicit about its and backing, but it also depends on the mission to what extent US involvement is necessary. So we need to discuss that in more detail,” he said.
According to Brekelmans, a peacekeeping mission “has a very different definition than a security mission.”
“So it depends on the objective of the mission, and also on the resources that are needed to carry it out,” he argued, but reiterated the importance of “counting on the US.”
“It has to be clear what kind of mission it is and what we are asking the US to do, and that is what we will be discussing today,” he added.
He also defended the need to determine what “link” there can be with NATO, as “we need to work on security guarantees for Ukraine and at the same time make sure that we maintain our collective defense and deterrence.”
Working out the details Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds said the possibility of setting up a force to provide security for Ukraine after a ceasefire was on the coalition’s agenda, although he acknowledged that some details are still needed to “worked out” in addition to the parameters of a ceasefire itself.
He advocated maintaining formats of groupings of countries to Ukraine, such as the “Ukraine Defense Group,” which includes 50 countries and will hold its 27th meeting in Brussels on Friday, with the participation of the US.
However, he pointed out that “there are also formats in which the US may not participate.”
Spruds said each country was discussing what it could contribute to Ukraine’s security.
“We must that in Europe, there are about 2 million soldiers, meaning 2 million in uniform. So, in reality, we can do a lot. The other question is how effective we are, how capable we are of forming mobile forces,” he said.
He urged that any contribution of soldiers or proxies to a future security force in Ukraine should not “weaken our own defenses.”
Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson said he did not exclude the possibility of his country participating in a security force in Ukraine.
However, he added that “there are a number of issues we need to clarify,” such as the size or objectives of such a force.
Kallas, on the other hand, indicated that they would discuss possibilities like training Ukrainian soldiers in their own country, among other initiatives for future security guarantees.
The EU diplomatic chief recalled that the EU training mission has already trained 73,000 Ukrainian soldiers.
“We cannot jeopardize the peace by forgetting about the war,” said British Defense Secretary John Healey, who urged increased pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin. EFE
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