The World Today
Ukraine announces that at least three countries have already approved the deployment of their military.
MADRID, 21 (EUROPA PRESS)
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has confirmed his willingness to send troops to Ukraine as part of the European peacekeeping contingent being considered as one of the security guarantees kyiv is demanding once a peace agreement with Russia is reached.
"We are prepared to contribute as much as the mandate of the Seimas (Parliament) allows, both by sending peacekeepers and providing our own military equipment," Nauseda said in an interview with Lithuanian TV3.
However, Nauseda acknowledged that it is still "too early to talk about that," since the so-called "coalition of the willing" has not yet established an action plan in this regard. "It would only be implemented if peace is guaranteed," the Lithuanian president clarified on Lithuanian television.
Nauseda noted that based on this, it may be unnecessary for Lithuania to deploy its own troops on Ukrainian territory. "Perhaps they will ask us for other things," he said.
In any case, he explained that the contingent Lithuania would send to Ukraine "would not differ significantly" from the one it deployed in Afghanistan, for example, with approximately 200 troops.
For their part, Ukrainian authorities have announced that at least three countries have approved the deployment of their military personnel as part of these security measures, which President Volodymyr Zelensky has emphasized again.
The head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Andri Yermak, has confirmed that "three countries are ready to send soldiers," including Germany, the United Kingdom, and France, according to an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
Yermak explained that any deployment must be coordinated with the United States, which has already ruled out using its troops in this so-called "coalition of the willing," "to maintain unity and develop common rules of engagement."
"We will undoubtedly have allied troops on our territory," President Zelensky's advisor stressed, but declined to offer a figure for how many foreign military personnel Ukraine could host under this plan.
The "coalition of the willing" is an initiative led by France and the United Kingdom to send European troops to Ukraine as a security guarantee following the signing of a hypothetical peace agreement. Few countries have yet backed this, with the exception of the Baltic countries and a few others, albeit with nuances.
