The US has warmed somewhat to Europe\u2019s model for Ukrainian security<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
But the US appears to have warmed somewhat to Europe\u2019s model for security after its contributions helped foster decisive progress in talks.<\/p>\n
\u200bWhat could a reassurance force look like?<\/p>\n
Over the last nine months, the \u201ccoalition of the willing\u201d has committed to protecting Ukraine by helping reconsolidate its military, protecting its airspace and deploying a small number of troops.<\/p>\n
During a virtual meeting with coalition members last week, French president Emmanuel Macron said a taskforce has been set up to whittle down ideas into tangible military commitments.<\/p>\n
The focus would be to restore Ukraine\u2019s army to full strength which would serve as an independent deterrent against future aggression.<\/p>\n
Former British army Colonel Philip Ingram said that European training forces already working with Ukrainian soldiers in their home countries would likely be redeployed to help the military closer to home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis could be done on a series of bilaterals between Ukraine and contributing nations, and therefore negate it being labelled as Nato, allowing Russia to be told to mind their own business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
![\"Activists](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/a2967c21-5531-4ea0-88ac-ce661bcd41ea.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Activists and relatives of Ukrainian POWs at the monument to poet Taras Shevchenko last week. Photo: Getty<\/p>\n
Ingram assessed that it would likely be more of a \u201cpresence force\u201d, rather than a large military buffer capable of facing down the Russian army.<\/p>\n
It is still unclear how big this contingent could be; earlier in the year, analysts gave estimates varying hugely from 20,000 to 100,000. But by August, military chiefs were already reportedly scaling back their ideas to something more \u201crealistic\u201d.<\/p>\n
The coalition is also weighing up air support based in nearby countries, Macron said last Tuesday.<\/p>\n
This is less likely to face criticism from Washington: Trump has already given his blessing to putting European fighter jets in neighbouring Poland.<\/p>\n
\u200bWho would be involved?<\/p>\n
The taskforce announced by Macron would be led by France and the UK with participation from Turkey and the United States. Macron said around 20 unspecified countries have already committed to some active involvement by air, land or sea.<\/p>\n
Britain is still committed to stationing troops in Ukraine, Downing Street confirmed. Just before the US revealed its initial draft for peace, the British defence secretary John Healey said more than \u00a3100m was being prepared to cover the cost of sending forces to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, and that military units had already been chosen.<\/p>\n
France is also positioning itself for a leading role, though Macron has been careful not to agitate his domestic audience. He said on French radio that France would not rush to send troops, and would station the force \u201cin fallback positions in Kyiv or Odesa\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t sow panic among the French, because there are a lot of people who want to scare us, and who are saying that we\u2019re going to immediately send troops. That\u2019s false,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Turkey has been the most hesitant to commit to specifics.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Indian and Russian presidents Droupadi Murmu and Vladimir Putin in New Delhi on Friday. Photo: Reuters<\/p>\n
The defence ministry confirmed recently that the army was ready to \u201ccontribute to any initiative aimed at ensuring security and stability in our region\u201d, but said a ceasefire needed to be agreed before any firm commitments can be made.<\/p>\n
Macron signalled Turkey could also play a naval role, given its position on the Black Sea.<\/p>\n
Washington has intentionally kept out of these discussions, but appeared more involved in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
After hailing unprecedented progress in talks with Ukraine in Geneva, helped along by Europe weighing in, US secretary of state Marco Rubio joined the virtual coalition meeting in an encouraging show of support.<\/p>\n
It is still unlikely the US will back Europe\u2019s promise with a physical presence. Trump has repeatedly ruled out putting boots on the ground.<\/p>\n
\u200bWhat do the experts say?<\/p>\n
A small but effective force in Ukraine could still play an important role in helping the country rebuild after four years of bitter warfare, experts say.<\/p>\n
Leo Litra, visiting fellow with the European Security Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations, argued that a smaller force would \u201cnot undermine the rationale of the mission\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe US mission in Vietnam started with 900 American instructors; the International Security Assistance Force mission in Afghanistan began with 5,000 troops,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n
The US would still need to provide the main guarantees \u2014 air defence, intelligence, surveillance \u2014 to deter an actual invasion, however.<\/p>\n
But Sophia Besch, senior fellow in the Europe Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Europe risks promising military action they cannot deliver on and should focus on support.<\/p>\n
\u201cEuropeans cannot speak a credible American backstop into existence,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, she said Europe can help Ukraine recover its footing through training and regrouping forces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After being sidelined by Trump, Europe is now framing a plan to end the conflict in Ukraine Britain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,356,6586,13,14,2220,6621,6,11,12,15,16,5,550,7,8,551,1543,2263,5445,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-221448","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-emmanuel-macron","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-france","15":"tag-germany","16":"tag-headlines","17":"tag-latest-news","18":"tag-latestnews","19":"tag-main-news","20":"tag-mainnews","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-russia","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-topstories","25":"tag-ukraine","26":"tag-usa","27":"tag-vladimir-putin","28":"tag-volodymyr-zelensky","29":"tag-world","30":"tag-world-news","31":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115682811345187406","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}