{"id":62269,"date":"2025-04-30T06:54:59","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T06:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/62269\/"},"modified":"2025-04-30T06:54:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T06:54:59","slug":"the-times-europe-struggles-to-send-25000-troops-to-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/62269\/","title":{"rendered":"The Times: Europe struggles to send 25,000 troops to Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

European countries are struggling to raise even a modest force to support Ukraine under current defence plans, with sources revealing that a proposed 25,000-strong deterrence force would be difficult to assemble due to manpower and funding shortfalls across the continent\u2019s militaries.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Times gained <\/a><\/strong>rare access to high-level conversations between European defence ministers and military leaders as they debated forming a \u201ccoalition of the willing\u201d to assist Ukraine.<\/p>\n

British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin reportedly floated the idea of sending a 64,000-strong force to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal, offering a British contribution of up to 10,000 personnel.<\/p>\n

However, defence ministers have since admitted that even 25,000 troops would be difficult to generate as a collective effort. \u201cThere\u2019s no chance we can get to 64,000 \u2014 and even 25,000 would be a stretch,\u201d one source present at recent discussions in Brussels said.<\/p>\n

In light of the challenges, Britain and France are now considering deploying military trainers to western Ukraine, focusing on support roles rather than forming a large multinational ground force. The revised security commitment would prioritise rebuilding Ukraine\u2019s armed forces, with an emphasis on air and maritime protection.<\/p>\n

During a coalition meeting on April 10 and subsequent talks in Brussels, ministers voiced skepticism about Britain\u2019s proposed numbers. Allies highlighted the logistical demands of sustaining a 64,000-strong presence, which would require 256,000 troops over two years to accommodate rotational deployments.<\/p>\n

Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovile Sakaliene reportedly delivered a blunt assessment: \u201cRussia has 800,000 troops. If we can\u2019t even raise 64,000, that\u2019s not just a sign of weakness \u2014 it is weakness.\u201d Her remarks were described by participants as \u201cstrident and inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n

The discussions revealed the extent of Europe\u2019s military dependence on the United States. One attendee noted that deploying special forces might be more feasible, as such moves typically do not require parliamentary approval.<\/p>\n

Concerns were also raised by Estonia and Finland, who fear that contributing troops could compromise their own border security. Meanwhile, Poland, Spain, and Italy have declined to send troops, according to the same source. \u201cWithout the involvement of large, populous countries, the idea is going nowhere,\u201d the source added.<\/p>\n

France is reportedly willing to match the UK\u2019s potential deployment, offering between 5,000 and 10,000 personnel. A second source in the UK said that Finland and Germany are opposed to sending ground troops, although Berlin has not entirely ruled it out.<\/p>\n

By Khagan Isayev<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European countries are struggling to raise even a modest force to support Ukraine under current defence plans, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[23355,7503,7502,2000,299,5187,23356,23359,466,23358,23357,23354],"class_list":{"0":"post-62269","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-analysis-of-azerbaijan","9":"tag-azerbaijan","10":"tag-baku","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-european","14":"tag-important-news-of-azerbaijan","15":"tag-international-experts","16":"tag-interviews","17":"tag-interviews-with-azerbaijani-analysts","18":"tag-news-from-baku","19":"tag-news-of-azerbaijan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114425608467817356","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}