British and French military teams will be deployed to Ukraine in ‘coming days’, Emmanuel Macron has confirmed.
The delegation from the UK and France will be sent to work with Ukrainian armed forces as part of a ‘reassurance force’, even if the idea is not backed by all European allies.
This was revealed after a summit in Paris aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s hand and its military, attended by Sir Keir Starmer, Volodymyr Zelensky and other Western leaders.
‘In very specific terms, we agreed that the prime minister of Great Britain and I will instruct our chiefs of defence to ensure that a Franco-British team is sent to Ukraine within a few days for very close cooperation with our Ukrainian partners,’ Macron told reporters earlier this afternoon.
He made the announcement about the military delegation to Ukraine – but said the decision is ‘not unanimous’.
Such a force would also not be a substitute for any peacekeeping soldiers on the ground maintaining any ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
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‘Nothing has been ruled out, we will look at sea forces, ground forces and air forces,’ the French leader warned.
‘This reassurance force should not substitute the peacekeeping forces on the contact line or the strong and robust Ukrainian army.’
He acknowledged that Vladimir Putin has not agreed to such a plan but ‘it is not up to Russia what happens on Ukrainian soil’.
‘So there will be a reassurance force bringing together several European forces and it will be deployed,’ Macron added.
Sir Keir later described it as a ‘deterrence force’, saying: ‘This is a force designed to deter, in order to send that message to Putin that this is a deal that is going to be defended – that’s the best description of it.’
It remains unclear which European countries have agreed to sending a team to Ukraine.
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But the British PM stressed that US involvement is needed to proceed with the plan.
Leaders in Paris also agreed that sanctions against Russia should not be lifted, and instead ramped up, until the war is halted.
Sir Keir said there was ‘complete clarity’ that now is not the time for the lifting of sanctions.
‘Quite the contrary – what we discussed is how we can increase sanctions to support the US initiative to bring Russia to the table from further pressure,’ he added.
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