Western boots on the ground would be “a hard sell,” sources told Radio Free Europe
It is very unlikely that EU member states will deploy peacekeepers in Ukraine, especially without American participation, US state-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
“There are two reasons why you shouldn’t believe that European soldiers will be on Ukrainian territory. First, the Russians will not accept it. Second, it will be hard to sell this to the European population,” an unnamed EU diplomat told the news agency. The diplomat added that sending Western troops to “die in Ukraine” would play in the hands of “populists.”
RFE/RL quoted a different unnamed EU official as saying that the deployment of foreign soldiers remains a long shot. “It is a good idea. However, it is enough to look at the skepticism in the Czech Republic and Poland – the countries expected to provide many soldiers – to see that it will be a hard sell,” the source said.
An EU diplomat told RFE/RL that Ukraine is cruising for “a rough landing” in the coming year. “There are no good scenarios,” the source said, suggesting that the conflict is heading towards something similar to the 2014-2015 Minsk agreements, which temporarily ended the large-scale fighting in Donbass.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has cited Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk accords as one of the root causes of the conflict. Both Russia and Ukraine have so far rejected the idea of an unconditional ceasefire.
According to multiple news reports, European leaders have discussed potentially dispatching peacekeepers after a ceasefire is reached.
Politico magazine reported that presidents Emmanuel Macron of France and Donald Tusk of Poland planned to exchange views on the matter during their meeting in Warsaw earlier this month. Tusk later told journalists that Poland had no plans for such actions. French officials previously floated the idea of sending military instructors and personnel that could help with demining.
Russia has repeatedly said that it would treat any Western soldier in Ukraine as a legitimate target. Putin stressed that foreign military aid to Kiev is already tantamount to NATO’s direct participation in the conflict.
