European troops for Ukraine: London and Paris lower expectations

The United Kingdom and France are discussing the deployment of a limited military contingent to Ukraine following a possible peace agreement. According to The Times, the discussion involves approximately 7,500 military personnel from each country. The sources of the publication are in the British Ministry of Defense.

This is not about combat operations. The task of the possible mission is formulated as ensuring security and stabilizing the situation in the post-conflict period.

Plans are being adjusted already at the calculation stage. Initially, London considered the option of sending up to 10,000 soldiers, but it quickly became clear that this does not correspond to the current capabilities of the army. The number of trained British military personnel today is estimated at about 71,000, and a significant part of them is already engaged in other commitments.

France, according to the publication, is also ready to participate in forming the contingent, but the actual numbers may be lower than publicly discussed. At this stage, London and Paris remain the only European capitals that have directly agreed to deploy their forces in Ukraine after the ceasefire.

Even a combined contingent of 15,000 people is called “overly optimistic” by sources. Planning is complicated by logistics, rotation timelines, and mandate issues. Germany, one of Kyiv’s key allies, is considering a different format of participation — deploying its units outside Ukraine, including in Poland or Romania.

There are no final parameters for the future mission yet. The number, structure, and area of responsibility directly depend on the conditions of the ceasefire and political agreements that still need to be coordinated.

The political framework for these discussions was established on January 6 in Paris. Then Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting with representatives of the European “coalition of the willing,” which also included negotiators associated with former US President Donald Trump.

The outcome of the meeting was the signing of a declaration on the possible deployment of troops in Ukraine after the end of the war. The document was signed by Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The text of the declaration mentions “multinational forces” intended to guarantee security, but specific numbers and timelines are absent. This emphasizes the main point: it is not a ready-made solution, but a political intention that still needs to be filled with real content — both military and diplomatic. In this context, Europe’s position continues to form on the go, under the pressure of geopolitics and limited resources, as regularly reported by NAnews — News of Israel | Nikk.Agency.