May 14, 2024

Momentum appears to be growing for an expanded NATO presence in Ukraine, potentially even the deployment of allied soldiers there in noncombat roles to free up Kyiv’s forces to better resist Russia’s efforts.

NATO ally Estonia, which shares a 545-mile border with Russia, is now “seriously” discussing the possibility of sending troops into western Ukraine in noncombat roles, Madis Roll, the Estonian president’s national security adviser, told website Breaking Defense this week.

“Discussions are ongoing,” Roll said. “We should be looking at all the possibilities. We shouldn’t have our minds restricted as to what we can do.” He added that Estonia would prefer any deployment to take place as part of a broader NATO mission, suggesting it would “show broader combined strength and determination.”

It is “not unthinkable,” Roll said, that NATO nations opposed to putting boots on the ground in Ukraine would shift their opinion “as time goes on.”

Roll’s remarks are the latest ones to hint at more direct NATO involvement in Ukraine. Earlier this year, French President Emmanuel Macron was the first to raise the possibility of noncombat troop deployment, an idea that garnered support from NATO’s Baltic members. But it was quickly dismissed by more cautious leaders like President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Macron has stood by his remarks, saying earlier this month that France would consider sending troops to Ukraine if Russian forces broke through the front lines.

Elsewhere, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna suggested in March that Warsaw may down Russian missiles flying over western Ukraine, in response to repeated intrusions of Moscow’s munitions into allied airspace during bombardments of Ukrainian targets.

“NATO is analyzing different concepts, including that such missiles should be shot down when they are very close to the NATO border,” he said. “But this should happen with the consent of the Ukrainian side and taking into account international consequences.”

German political leaders made a similar proposal this month, suggesting that NATO air defenses based in Poland and Romania could create a safe zone extending some 45 miles into western Ukraine.

Some NATO forces may already be operating inside Ukraine. In February, Scholz appeared to inadvertently reveal that British and French troops are assisting Ukrainian troops in the use of Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles.

The Kremlin has repeatedly warned NATO against deploying any forces—or indeed sending any weapons—to Ukraine. At the same time, it has framed its war on Kyiv as a conflict with the U.S.-led “collective West” and a preemptive strike to prevent NATO aggression against Russia.

Last week, in response to a Ukrainian petition urging NATO to deploy forces, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “We have repeatedly said that direct intervention on the ground in this conflict by the military of NATO countries potentially carries enormous danger, so we consider this an extremely challenging provocation, nothing less, and, of course, we are watching this very carefully.”

https://www.newsweek.com/nato-mulls-ukraine-options-troops-1900303