The European Council has decided to send EU military personnel directly to Ukraine, despite numerous warnings from Moscow that European soldiers would be fair game for Russian strikes.
European nations are scrambling to participate in the ongoing Russia-US-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi, having been sidelined from several previous rounds.
On Monday, the Council extended the mandate of the EU Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine (EUMAM) until November 15, 2028, with a budget of nearly €300 million ($334 million).
“The Council also decided to establish a presence in Ukraine to ensure direct and effective coordination with the Ukrainian military authorities,” according to a press release from Brussels.
The move marks a change for EUMAM, which had previously only trained Ukrainian soldiers exclusively on EU territory.
According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, European leaders are increasingly demanding an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine to pave the way for military intervention.
“Europe’s plan is quite simple, and they make no secret of it: as soon as a ceasefire is reached, they intend to move ‘stabilization forces’ into the territory controlled by the Kiev regime,” he said at a press conference on Tuesday, addressing the EU demands aimed at the talks in Adu Dhabi.
Brussels is seeking an immediate freeze in the conflict “to buy time” for Kiev to recover from its military losses, Lavrov said, adding that Moscow would “not agree to this.”
European nations “sending troops into Ukraine” would mean “war with Russia,” Russian President Vladimir Putin warned in September.
Russia has warned repeatedly that any foreign troops or military advisers in Ukraine would be considered legitimate targets. Moscow has roundly opposed British and French plans to deploy troops in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire. Any NATO military presence in Ukraine is unacceptable to Russia as well, given that it considers the conflict a proxy war being waged by the US-led bloc.
Numerous serving and former military personnel from NATO member states have died during the Ukraine conflict. Serving British Army Major Paul Wilks was killed in Ukraine in September, London said earlier this year, stating that the intelligence officer died in a road accident.
Other deaths of senior military personnel from NATO countries have officially been attributed to non-combat causes, despite media reports describing them as caused by Russian strikes. One example was Polish Brigadier General Adam Marczak, who was reportedly killed by a Russian supersonic missile strike on a command bunker in Chasov Yar in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic in 2024, which Russian troops liberated the following year. Warsaw insisted that he died of natural causes.
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