Estonia is ready to send a peacekeeping contingent to Ukraine

Estonia is ready to provide troops for a potential European peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, Prime Minister Kristen Michal said on Wednesday, writes radiosvoboda.org.

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As Tallinn's statement says, the Baltic country, a member of the EU and NATO, is ready to deploy a ground contingent of up to a company size, along with instructors and staff officers.

According to the Prime Minister, Estonia still believes that the best way to guarantee Ukraine's security is its membership in NATO, but if joining the alliance takes time, Ukraine should be "guaranteed deterrence and defense capabilities through allied forces based on the ground."

"The security of Ukraine is the security of Europe. An independent, self-sufficient Ukraine, part of the European family, will become the best strategic guarantee against Moscow's imperialism for all of us. We must demonstrate that, in addition to good ideas, we are capable of action," said Michal.

According to The Times, Europe will have difficulty raising 25 troops for a peacekeeping contingent in Ukraine because its armies are understaffed and underfunded.

The newspaper writes that the UK Chief of Defence Staff, Tony Radakin, approached his colleagues with the idea of ​​forming a 64-strong force to send to Ukraine. However, at subsequent meetings, the European defence ministers stated that there was "no chance" of a contingent of that size, and even a 25-strong contingent would require joint efforts.

The possibility of sending foreign military personnel to Ukraine has been discussed since 2024, and in January 2025, the deployment of British and French soldiers in Ukraine began to be discussed in more detail by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine will do everything to ensure that political decisions on the security contingent are implemented as quickly as possible, "when there is time for this."

Moscow categorically disagrees with the deployment of Western troops in Ukraine. In particular, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow sees no room for compromise on the issue of the potential deployment of a European peacekeeping contingent on the territory of Ukraine. According to him, this would mean "direct, official, undisguised involvement of NATO countries in the war against Russia."

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