Dutch envoy on foreign troops in Ukraine: "Coalition of the willing" could be alternative to consensus
This was stated in an interview with Ukrinform by the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Ukraine, Alle Dorhout, who answered a question on the prospects of deploying an international military contingent in Ukraine.
"We don’t have a stance on that (the deployment of an international military contingent in Ukraine - ed.) yet. But as you know, also looking back into history, there have been coalitions of the willing," the ambassador noted.
According to the diplomat, “this could be something where a coalition of the willing member states or allies will step in because there has not yet been a unified position on this, and this is always an alternative when the alliance isn't going to have a unified position on certain missions abroad”
The diplomat recalled that since French President Emmanuel Macron proposed the idea of a physical presence of foreign troops on Ukrainian soil (“boots on the ground”) a few months ago, discussions on the issue have been going on at the international level, but at the moment “it is indeed too early to speculate on that.”
As reported, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz believes that the discussion of a possibility of deploying a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine in the future is now premature.
At the same time, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius does not rule out Germany’s participation in some sort of a mission after active hostilities on the frontlines end.
