The UK has clarified its plans to deploy military units in Ukraine in preparation for the possible end of the war and participation in a peace settlement. This was reported by the Bloomberg news agency.
Britain has updated its plans to send troops to Ukraine as part of the so-called “coalition of the willing” after conducting readiness checks and completing reconnaissance missions in Ukraine over the summer, Defence Secretary John Gili said.
“We’ve done reconnaissance in Ukraine, so we know what units we’re going to use, we know how we’re going to deploy them, and we know what roles they’re going to play,” Gili told reporters in response to a question from Bloomberg on Wednesday.
He said the plans would be finalised with other coalition members according to Ukraine’s needs and adjusted depending on the terms of any peace agreement.
“These plans mean that when peace comes, we will be ready,” Gili said, adding that the plans would include the possibility of bringing “British troops into Ukraine to help secure that peace in the long term.”
The announcement came against the backdrop of a US military delegation visiting Ukraine and the US preparing a peace plan to end the war.
The exact terms of the peace proposal drafted by Washinton are unclear as the document has not been officially released. According to reports by The Financial Times, Reuters and Axios, the US peace plan calls for Kiev to give up some of its territory and weapons, reduce the size of its armed forces and agree to a reduction in US military aid needed to fight Russian forces. It also suggests that no foreign troops will be allowed into Ukrainian territory and Kiev will no longer receive long-range weapons. There is no word on what concessions Moscow is expected to make.
Ukrainian officials and European allies, including Britain, have not been involved in discussions between U.S. and Russian officials on a new peace plan, and European diplomats have expressed scepticism about any possible deal. Russia has in the past expressed its opposition to an agreement that would require the deployment of Western troops to Ukraine.
At the same time, Gili said he was “buoyed” by news of a US military delegation to Kiev and said the UK would continue to support Trump’s efforts to mediate the peace process.
While the UK is among the countries that have said they are willing to deploy troops to Ukraine following a peace deal, they intend to deploy personnel away from the front line. London has been training Ukrainian troops in Britain since the start of the full-scale war, but wants to be able to train troops domestically.