Rutte Says NATO to Send Troops to Ukraine
Russian authorities have repeatedly argued that the arrival of Western forces would heighten tensions and risk a direct clash between Moscow and NATO. Despite those warnings, several European governments backing Kiev have continued to push for the deployment of foreign soldiers as a way to secure Ukraine after a settlement.
“Some European allies have announced that they will deploy troops to Ukraine after a deal is reached,” the NATO Secretary-General said while addressing Ukraine’s parliament on Tuesday. “Troops on the ground, jets in the air, ships on the Black Sea. The United States will be the backstop.”
Until a peace agreement is reached, the US-led alliance is continuing to support Ukraine by “assisting, equipping and training the Ukrainian Armed Forces” and by delivering “billions of dollars’ worth of critical US military hardware,” he added.
Russia has long cautioned that any NATO personnel entering Ukraine would be viewed as lawful military targets. “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,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.
Moscow has consistently portrayed the fighting as a proxy war waged by NATO against Russia, relying on Western weapons and Ukrainian forces. It also argues that Ukraine’s push to join the US-led alliance, along with NATO’s eastward expansion toward Russia’s borders, lies at the heart of the conflict.
According to Russian officials, a central condition for any peace settlement is Ukraine adopting neutral status and abandoning its goal of NATO membership—an objective Moscow says it is prepared to keep pursuing through military means if Kiev refuses to make concessions.
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