{"id":2117,"date":"2025-04-11T12:46:01","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T12:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/?p=2117"},"modified":"2025-04-15T23:05:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T23:05:35","slug":"mod-responds-to-claims-uk-will-send-troops-to-ukraine-for-five-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/11\/mod-responds-to-claims-uk-will-send-troops-to-ukraine-for-five-years\/","title":{"rendered":"MoD responds to claims UK will send troops to Ukraine for five years"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"SMARDAN,\t<\/div>
A British soldier reloads his gun on February 17, 2025 in Smardan, Romania (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A report that Britain is considering deploying soldiers to Ukraine for five years has been described as \u2018pure speculation\u2019.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> from breaching any agreement of a ceasefire.<\/p>\n

But a ministry of defence<\/a> spokesperson criticised the report, telling Metro<\/strong>: \u2018This is pure speculation.<\/p>\n

\u2018As 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.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t{“@context”:”https:\/\/schema.org”,”@type”:”VideoObject”,”name”:”Metro.co.uk”,”duration”:”T3M39S”,”thumbnailUrl”:”https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2025\/04\/11\/13\/97170749-0-image-a-121_1744375374532.jpg”,”uploadDate”:”2025-04-11T13:42:20+0100″,”description”:”Defence Secretary John Healey says 2025 is a ‘critical moment’ for the war in Ukraine.”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/videos.metro.co.uk\/video\/met\/2025\/04\/11\/5812469731544445955\/480x270_MP4_5812469731544445955.mp4″,”height”:270,”width”:480}<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbrowser that
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsupports HTML5
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvideo<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t<\/video>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

Up Next<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPrevious Page<\/title>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__page\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__page\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__page\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__page\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__arrow metro-related-video-carousel__arrow--right disabled\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<title>Next Page<\/title>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-videos-placeholder\">\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder\">\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-headline\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder\">\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-headline\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder\">\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-headline\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder\">\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-headline\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder\">\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-headline\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder\">\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-headline\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder\">\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-headline\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\twindow.addEventListener(‘metroVideo:relatedVideosCarouselLoaded’, function(data) {<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tif (typeof(data.detail) === ‘undefined’ || typeof(data.detail.carousel) === ‘undefined’ || typeof(data.detail.carousel.el_) === ‘undefined’) {<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\treturn;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t}<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tvar player = data.detail.carousel.el_;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tvar container = player.closest(‘.metro-video-player’);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tvar placeholder = container.querySelector(‘.metro-video-player__up-next-placeholder’);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tcontainer.removeChild(placeholder);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tcontainer.classList.add(‘metro-video-player–related-videos-loaded’);<br \/>\n\t\t\t});<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u2018We 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 \u00a3450 million of military support today to deliver hundreds of thousands of drones and other urgently needed equipment.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The claims, originally reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/world-news\/2025\/04\/10\/british-troops-could-be-deployed-in-ukraine-for-five-years\/\">The Telegraph<\/a>, citing unnamed sources, said the main aim of the deployment would be to immediately start\u00a0helping to train and rebuild Ukraine\u2019s armed forces.<\/p>\n<p>The force would later withdraw in stages with final troops to leave around the five year mark.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"article-image wp-image-22893719 lazyload\" alt=\"SMARDAN, ROMANIA - FEBRUARY 17: A British soldier shoots his gun during an exercise on February 17, 2025 in Smardan, Romania. The UK's 1st Division is commanding land forces during Exercise Steadfast Dart, as NATO Allied Reaction Force (ARF) training continues in Romania. The ARF was established in July 2024 amid a restructuring of the Alliance's high-readiness forces, with the capability of rapidly reinforcing NATO's eastern flank. The exercise includes 10,000 service personnel from nine nations, carried out across Romania, Greece, and Bulgaria during January and February. Steadfast Dart marks the first full-scale operational deployment of ARF, and this week coincides with the third anniversary of Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. (Photo by Andrei Pungovschi\/Getty Images)\" loading=\"lazy\" data-src=\"http:\/\/softnary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SEI_240361036-dd43.jpg\">\t<\/div><figcaption>European allies have been discussing if a peacekeeping force should be deployed to Ukraine in case of a ceasefire (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>They pledged a record \u00a318.2 billion of help as Healey warned that 2025 was \u2018the critical year\u2019 for the war.<\/p>\n<p>The commitments follow a meeting of the\u00a0Ukraine\u00a0Defence Contact Group (UDCG) chaired by\u00a0the UK defence minister\u00a0and his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, at Nato headquarters in Brussels.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing a joint press conference after the meeting, Healey\u00a0said: \u2018This UDCG could not meet at a more important time, because 2025 is the critical year for this war in\u00a0Ukraine, and now is the critical moment in that war.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Opening the meeting, he had urged allies to \u2018step up our support for Ukraine\u2019, adding: \u2018Our job as defence ministers is to get urgent military aid into the hands of Ukrainian warfighters.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The support announced on Friday includes a \u00a3450 million package from the UK and Norway to fund radar systems, anti-tank mines, vehicle repairs and hundreds of thousands of drones for\u00a0Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>Drones have come to play an increasingly important role in the Ukraine war, with Healey\u00a0saying on Friday that 70-80% of battlefield casualties were now inflicted by the technology \u2013 significantly outnumbering those caused by artillery.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at <a href=\"mailto:webnews@metro.co.uk\">webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong> <strong>Or you can submit your videos and pictures <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/submit-stuff\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/submit-stuff\/\">here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>For more stories like this, check our<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/news\/\"><strong>\u00a0news page<\/strong><\/a><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Follow Metro.co.uk on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MetroUK\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MetroUK\">Twitter<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MetroUK\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MetroUK\">Facebook<\/a> for the latest news updates.<\/strong> <strong>You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/how-to-subscribe-to-metro-news-notifications\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/how-to-subscribe-to-metro-news-notifications\/\">here<\/a>. <\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A British soldier reloads his gun on February 17, 2025 in Smardan, Romania (Picture: Getty) A report that Britain is considering deploying soldiers to Ukraine for five years has been described as \u2018pure speculation\u2019. One of a number of options on the table being discussed by Western allies was said to be a European-led force […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russia-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2117"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2121,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2117\/revisions\/2121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}