A report that Britain is considering deploying soldiers to Ukraine for five years has been described as ‘pure speculation’.
One of a number of options on the table being discussed by Western allies was said to be a European-led force dispatched to the war-torn nation to deter Russia from breaching any agreement of a ceasefire.
But a ministry of defence spokesperson criticised the report, telling Metro: ‘This is pure speculation.
‘As defence secretary John Healey said on Thursday when convening the latest meeting of the 30 countries supporting the Coalition of the Willing, we are stepping up as one to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position to protect its sovereignty.
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‘We must put more pressure on Putin to end his war, and we must step up our support for Ukraine, which is why we have announced a further £450 million of military support today to deliver hundreds of thousands of drones and other urgently needed equipment.’
The claims, originally reported by The Telegraph, citing unnamed sources, said the main aim of the deployment would be to immediately start helping to train and rebuild Ukraine’s armed forces.
The force would later withdraw in stages with final troops to leave around the five year mark.
Away from deploying British and French soldiers on the ground in Ukraine European allies are focusing on military aid to help support the depleted army.
They pledged a record £18.2 billion of help as Healey warned that 2025 was ‘the critical year’ for the war.
The commitments follow a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG) chaired by the UK defence minister and his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, at Nato headquarters in Brussels.
Addressing a joint press conference after the meeting, Healey said: ‘This UDCG could not meet at a more important time, because 2025 is the critical year for this war in Ukraine, and now is the critical moment in that war.’
Opening the meeting, he had urged allies to ‘step up our support for Ukraine’, adding: ‘Our job as defence ministers is to get urgent military aid into the hands of Ukrainian warfighters.’
The support announced on Friday includes a £450 million package from the UK and Norway to fund radar systems, anti-tank mines, vehicle repairs and hundreds of thousands of drones for Ukraine.
Drones have come to play an increasingly important role in the Ukraine war, with Healey saying on Friday that 70-80% of battlefield casualties were now inflicted by the technology – significantly outnumbering those caused by artillery.
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