The meeting of the “Coalition of the Probe” on Thursday at Brussels It has revealed the problems that this idea has by birth, which are promoted by Emmanuel Macron and Kir Starmer, with the aim of supporting and protecting Ukraine. Of the countries involved, almost none has really shown to be able to send forces to Ukraine, while it remains unclear what size such as Europeans’ mission should have to ensure peace and exactly what its purpose and character will be.

Waiting for Trump

At the same time, most of them Europeans Ministers have shown to calculate the further American presence in the area and hope to change Washington’s attitude on the issue. It was typical of the Finnish Defense Minister, who admitted that it would be very difficult to monitor and preserve a truce along the approximately 1,400 kilometers of Russia and Ukraine, without the involvement of the US throughout the project. Donald Trump has, however, repeatedly ruled out and has also announced the gradual withdrawal of US soldiers as a whole from Europe.

Neither Finnishneither Polishneither Dutchwhich have been a steady “supports” of Kiev over the last three years, but have shown no willingness to engage in the Ukrainian territory. The same is true of course from the outset for countries in the South, such as Italy and Spain, which have never been thrilled with this French -British idea. So are the Danes and the Baltic countries, which could contribute more symbolic, since we are talking about countries with a small population and a similar number of forces.

How many and with what command

But there are many unspecified issues, and they have been in the meantime of the announcement of the initiative. First and foremost, with what command and with what flag would such a force be installed in Ukraine; Will it be under the auspices of the UN, as Macron had once said? This seems impossible, since Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council and has rejected this. NATO cannot do so unless it wants to risk an interpretation of this movement by Moscow as a declaration of war. Thus the context remains unclear, as well as where these forces will be theoretically placed and whether they will have a involvement. One idea is to be in the back, not on the border with Russia as a support force. After all, the 20,000 or 30,000 are not able to protect the front line of the front.

Additional aid to… species

In other words, despite the constant conferences of the “willing”, which are currently being made by the French and British press, the plan remains excessively cloudy and simply manages to maintain the debate on how a more active intervention by Europeans could look like in the next day.

What remains the most specific is the mission of military material to Kiev, which was confirmed on Friday at the Ukrainian Contact Contact meeting, also in Brussels. Among the countries that announced additional aid, in several billion euros, was Britain, Norway and Germany. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius reiterated that the contact team in the “Ramstein figure” remains a credible Ukraine ally. And estimated that by 2029 Germany will allocate to Kiev military material of 8 billion euros.