Allies may eventually send troops to Ukraine – ex-NATO Secretary General Rasmussen

Individual NATO member states may deploy their troops on the ground in Ukraine if the summit in Vilnius fails to provide Kyiv with any clear prospects for membership in the Alliance.

That’s according to former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who expressed the opinion in an interview with The Guardian, Ukrinform reports.

“If NATO cannot agree on a clear path forward for Ukraine, there is a clear possibility that some countries individually might take action. We know that Poland is very engaged in providing concrete assistance to Ukraine. And I wouldn’t exclude the possibility that Poland would engage even stronger in this context on a national basis and be followed by the Baltic states, maybe including the possibility of troops on the ground,” ex-secretary general noted.

Rasmussen said it was imperative that Ukraine should receive written security guarantees, preferably before the summit, but outside the NATO framework. These need to cover intelligence sharing, joint Ukraine training, enhanced ammunition production, NATO interoperability and a supply of arms sufficient to deter Russia from a further attack.

According to the ex-secretary general, “after a slow start, momentum was now building behind these ideas”, including in France.

At the same time, Rasmussen noted that security guarantees alone would not be enough for Ukraine.

“Some NATO allies might be in favor of the security guarantees to actually avoid a real discussion on Ukraine’s membership aspirations. They hope that by providing security guarantees, they can avoid this question. I don’t think that is possible. I think the NATO issue will be raised at the summit in Vilnius. I’ve spoken with several eastern European leaders, and there is a group of hardcore, eastern central European allies that want at least a clear path for Ukraine towards NATO membership.”

As reported earlier, former NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen serves as a co-chair of the group dealing with the international security guarantees for Ukraine. This year’s NATO summit will be held in Vilnius on July 11-12.