Ukraine updates: UK keen to supply peacekeeping troops
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for European unity to support Ukraine before a summit in Paris.
“We need this because of Ukraine; we need this for our own security,” Scholz said at a campaign event in Kassel.
It echoed a speech he made to the Munich Security Conference on Sunday when he said European support for Ukraine cannot end “when the weapons fall silent.”
Scholz is due to travel to Paris later to attend the emergency Ukraine talks organized by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Separately, German deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann said it was “premature” to discuss sending troops to Ukraine as part of any potential peacekeeping force.
“We have repeatedly stated that, first of all, we have to wait and see whether and how peace will hopefully emerge for Ukraine,” she told a press briefing in Berlin.
“That there is direct contact between the Americans and the Russians is not a bad thing if it is about finding a way to a durable and lasting peace,” she added.
The German military said it would “not shy away” from contributing peacekeeping troops but added it was too soon to discuss Germany’s exact contribution.
Earlier, Jürgen Hardt, the foreign policy spokesperson for Germany’s opposition CDU/CSU alliance, told the BBC: “If there is a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine to make sure that the ceasefire and peace remains, and there’s a clear basis on international law for that … I cannot imagine that Germany would step out of that concept.”
The German statements come after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK was “ready and willing to contribute to security guarantees to Ukraine by putting our own troops on the ground if necessary.”
