Coalition of Willing to Send Franco-British Mission to Ukraine to Train Army

French President Emmanuel Macron has said that a joint French-British mission will be sent to Ukraine to strengthen the Ukrainian army.  

He said this during a press conference after the Coalition of the Willing summit in Paris, BFMTV reports.  

Macron said that a ‘Franco-British team’ would go to Ukraine to work on ‘preparing the format of the Ukrainian army of tomorrow’.  

‘It will work closely with Ukraine to prepare all aspects of the future format of the Ukrainian army. In terms of size, number of soldiers, equipment,’ he explained.  

In addition, he noted that work is underway on the potential deployment of a so-called ‘deterrence force’ to Ukraine, which could play a role as a ‘deterrent’ in the event of a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.  

Macron specified that such a force could be formed by ‘some EU member states’ and deployed in ‘certain strategic locations’ in Ukraine.  

He also said that the foreign ministers of the Coalition of the Willing should prepare legal justifications for the deployment of a security force in Ukraine.  

According to him, the foreign ministers have been tasked with considering the specific legal aspects of the possible deployment of a force to enforce the ceasefire and are expected to present their findings within three weeks.  

The coalition of the willing, led by France and the United Kingdom, has been developing a plan for several weeks to send thousands of troops to Ukraine to guarantee a future ceasefire.

As The Gaze reported, in February, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the United Kingdom is ready and willing to deploy its troops to Ukraine as a security guarantee, if necessary.