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
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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
Greek coast guard head prosecuted over migrant tragedy: rights groups
- State security personnel are rarely sanctioned in Greece
- Survivors on board the rusty and overloaded trawler Adriana said the coast guard failed to respond adequately when it capsized
ATEHNS: The head of Greece’s coast guard has been prosecuted over the country’s deadliest migrant shipwreck which claimed hundreds of lives, rights groups representing the survivors and victims said Friday.
“By order of the prosecutor of the court of appeal, criminal proceedings are to be brought against four senior officers of the coast guard, including its current chief,” Trifonas Kontizas, the groups said in a joint statement.
The move in connection to the 2023 sinking follows similar proceedings initiated for 17 members of the coast guard in May.
State security personnel are rarely sanctioned in Greece.
Survivors on board the rusty and overloaded trawler Adriana said the coast guard failed to respond adequately when it capsized and sank on the night of June 13, 2023 off Pylos, southern Greece, en route to Italy.
It was carrying more than 750 people, according to the United Nations, but only 82 bodies were found.
The felony charges include failure to rescue and assist persons in distress and manslaughter by negligence, the rights groups said Friday.
The latest case had originally been shelved by the prosecutor of the Piraeus Naval Court but survivors lodged an appeal.
Among the 104 survivors, dozens have filed a group criminal complaint, alleging the coast guard took hours to mount a response when the boat was in trouble, despite warnings from EU border agency Frontex and the NGO Alarm Phone.
The boat was sailing from Tobruk, Libya to Italy. As well as Syrians and Palestinians, it was carrying nearly 350 Pakistanis, according to the Pakistani government.
Survivors said the coast guard eventually responded and was towing the vessel when it finally capsized and sank 47 nautical miles off the coast of Pylos.
The prosecutor has said that “the sudden and powerful towing by the coast guard vessel appears to be the only possible and active cause” that led the trawler to capsize.
The coast guard has said it communicated with people on board who “refused any help,” rendering any rescue operation in high seas risky.
But lawyers for the survivors have said the coast guard chose to dispatch just a patrol boat from Crete — and not a larger rescue tugboat stationed closer by at the port of Gytheion in the Peloponnese region.
The patrol boat’s voyage data recorder was damaged and was only repaired two months after the accident, they said — nor was there any video footage from the patrol boat.
