The number of countries willing to take part in a potential mission in Ukraine will increase after its mandate and rules of action are agreed upon. Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur told Radio Liberty in an interview after a meeting of the defence ministers of the 30 countries of the “coalition of the willing” on April 10 in Brussels at NATO headquarters.
“I don’t agree that only six countries are ready to deploy. There are definitely more than that. There are simply issues that need to be resolved now,” the minister said, referring to an AP publication that said only six countries are ready to send their troops to Ukraine as part of the efforts of the” coalition of the willing,” he emphasised.
Among the key conditions, according to the minister, are a request from Ukraine and a clear definition of the mandate, rules of engagement and ceasefire.
“There are many questions: what will be the mandate, what are the rules of engagement, whether the ceasefire should already be in force. When we can resolve these questions and some others – particularly on military planning – then we can see a much larger number of countries ready to be in Ukraine to rebuild Ukrainian forces,” Pevkur said.
On April 10, NATO headquarters in Brussels hosted the first meeting of defence ministers from 30 countries in the “coalition of the willing” format for long-term peace in Ukraine launched in February by France and Britain.
On 27 March, the leaders of the 27 countries gathered in Paris for a summit to discuss guarantees for Ukraine after a possible ceasefire, in particular the possible deployment of “coalition of the willing” forces on its territory.
After that, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the Western contingents in Ukraine that the “coalition of the willing” led by France and Britain was proposing would not be deployed on the line of contact but would operate at strategic points in the peace zone as security support forces.