20 countries willing to join UK-France's peacekeeping force in Ukraine: Report

Around 20 countries could be part of a coalition led by the United Kingdom and France to enforce peace in Ukraine once a peace deal is reached, according to a report.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said that a "coalition of the willing" is in the making to deploy soldiers, warplanes, and other assets in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force. He is working on the plan with French President Emmanuel Macron. He has stressed while Europe will do the “heavy lifting”, support from the United States is a must.

The Daily Telegraph has reported British officials as saying that as many as 20 countries made up “largely of European and commonwealth partners” could join such a peacekeeping force in Ukraine.

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The development comes at a time when US President Donald Trump has realigned the United States with Russia and has started withdrawing from Europe, leaving the continent alone as it faces unprecedented aggression from Russia.

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Besides the United Kingdom and France, Australia, Ireland, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Turkey have indicated they would be prepared to join the peacekeeping force. Canada, Denmark, and Sweden have also not ruled out being part of the force.

What is the British-French peacekeeping plan?

Starmer and Macron are working on a plan to deploy a peacekeeping force largely comprising of Europeans to Ukraine once a peace deal is reached.

Previously, The Telegraph has reported that up to 30,000 troops would be deployed to Ukraine under the plan.

The force would be deployed in Ukrainian cities, ports, and other critical infrastructure sites, such as nuclear power stations, and, instead of deploying a much bigger force, the British-French plan relies on “technical monitoring” of the peace deal, including intelligence; surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft; drones; and satellites to provide a “complete picture of what is going on”, according to the newspaper.

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To enable Ukraine’s airspace to operate commercial flights again, the force would be backed up by enough firepower to “monitor and shoot those attacks down”, an official told the newspaper.

Under the plan, naval patrol vessels would also be deployed in the Black Sea to monitor Russian threats to commercial shipping routes, as per the newspaper.

While Europe will do the heavy lifting under the plan, Starmer and Macron are urging Trump to continue keeping US warplanes and missiles in eastern Ukraine to deter Russian violation of a ceasefire deal, according to the newspaper.

ALSO READ: Europe’s intervention in Trump-Zelenskyy spat is not about bypassing US in Ukraine talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Macron met on Thursday to discuss the arrangement and the “need for new, substantial steps” on the sidelines of a European Union (EU) summit in Brussels.

“We have an absolutely clear shared vision that real and lasting peace is possible through co-operation between Ukraine, all of Europe, and the United States,” said Zelenskyy.

Following talks with Zelenskyy, Macron is scheduled to meet Starmer in Brussels on Friday.