LONDON: Europe is drawing up “pretty precise plans” for a multinational troop deployment to Ukraine as part of post-conflict security guarantees that will have the backing of US capabilities, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the Financial Times in an interview published Sunday.
“President Trump reassured us that there will be (an) American presence as part of the backstop,” von der Leyen told the FT, adding that “That was very clear and repeatedly affirmed.”
The deployment is set to include potentially tens of thousands of European-led troops, backed by assistance from the US, including control and command systems and intelligence and surveillance assets, the report said, adding that this arrangement was agreed at a meeting between US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and senior European leaders last month.
European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and von der Leyen are expected to gather in Paris on Thursday, at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron, to continue the high-level discussions on Ukraine, the FT reported, citing three diplomats briefed on the plans.
Von der Leyen says Europe is drawing up ‘precise’ plans to send troops to Ukraine, FT reports
https://arab.news/bzxmq
Von der Leyen says Europe is drawing up ‘precise’ plans to send troops to Ukraine, FT reports
- “President Trump reassured us that there will be (an) American presence as part of the backstop,” von der Leyen told the FT
- Deployment is set to include potentially tens of thousands of European-led troops, backed by assistance from the US
Lithuania to declare ‘emergency situation’ over Belarus balloons: PM
- “We are currently preparing the legal basis and documents,” Ruginiene told reporters
- “We do not rule out going further,” Ruginiene added. Declaring a state of emergency is a possible stronger step
VILNIUS: Lithuania’s Prime Minister announced on Friday that the country will declare a national “emergency situation” over the influx of smuggler’s balloons launched from Belarus.
“We are currently preparing the legal basis and documents,” Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene told reporters, calling the emergency declaration “the best course of action at this time.”
The ‘emergency situation’ enables the government and local authorities to dedicate extra resources to combatting the balloons.
“We do not rule out going further,” Ruginiene added. Declaring a state of emergency is a possible stronger step.
As a result of balloon incursions, Lithuania’s two largest airports, in Vilnius and Kaunas, have on several occasions been forced to halt operations.
Lithuanian officials claim that the balloons, which fly up to 10 kilometers (six miles) high, are deliberately being launched into the airport’s flight paths, and constitute an attack on its civil aviation.
Though the balloons, which contain cigarettes, have long been used by smugglers, they have only in the last few months prompted airport closures.
The Baltic state, a member of NATO and the European Union, has long accused Belarus, a close ally of Putin’s Russia, of organizing “hybrid warfare.”
The activity, which amplified in October, caused Lithuania to close its two border crossings with Belarus at the end of the month.
Belarus then prevented Lithuanian trucks from driving on its roads and barred them from leaving the country without first paying a fee, which Vilnius decried as “being held hostage” by Belarus.
Thousands of Lithuanian lorries remain stuck in Belarus, with Minsk calling for consultations with the Lithuanian foreign ministry.
Lithuania has instead called for harsher sanctions on Belarus.
