“The Americans are approaching European capitals and asking how many soldiers they are ready to deploy,” one diplomat told Reuters on Saturday. The US questionnaire, first reported by the Financial Times, posed six key questions, including one specifically for European Union member states.
“The Americans have provided Europeans with the questionnaire on what would be possible,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb confirmed when asked about the document on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. “This will force Europeans to think. Then it’s up to the Europeans to decide whether they actually answer the questionnaire, or whether they answer it together.”
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky claimed in January that Kiev needs “at least” 200,000 European soldiers as peacekeepers to enforce any potential agreement with Russia. However, analysts cited recently by the New York Times consider this figure unattainable, noting that deploying even 40,000 troops would be challenging.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Zelensky issued a new demand to Ukraine’s Western backers after the US said Kiev’s goal of NATO membership was “unrealistic.” He stated that without security guarantees from the US-led alliance, Ukraine would need to expand its army to 1.5 million troops – and that maintaining them would require a 50% increase in funding. Läs artikel