FT: European coalition divided over Ukraine deployment as leaders gather for crucial talks

The coalition of European countries, or Coalition of the Willing, planning to support postwar Ukraine is divided into three distinct camps ahead of a key summit in Paris on September 4: those willing to deploy troops, those refusing to participate militarily, and a majority still undecided. 

According to two people briefed by The Financial Times on the ongoing discussions, the United Kingdom is among the countries prepared to commit forces, while Italy has ruled out involvement. Germany — one of Europe’s military heavyweights — remains undecided, along with several others, Caliber.Az reports. 

The summit, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, will see some leaders attend in person and others join virtually. It follows a preparatory meeting of defence officials held on September 3, co-chaired by UK Defence Secretary John Healey.

An Elysée official said that countries willing and able to provide security guarantees had completed necessary technical work.

“Today we have enough contributions to be able to tell the Americans that we are ready to assume our responsibilities, provided that they assume theirs,” the official said.

The force, spearheaded by a "coalition of the willing" led by France and the UK, has support from the United States in principle, though Washington insists that Europe must take the lead. US President Donald Trump has pledged American backing in the form of intelligence sharing, command and control assets, and contributions to an air defence shield — but no ground troops.

UK Defence Secretary Healey told the defence officials' meeting that the UK was “reviewing readiness levels of UK Armed Forces and accelerating funding to be ready for any deployment to Ukraine,” according to a statement from the ministry.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on September 3 that he expected “concrete proposals on what security guarantees the coalition will provide, today or soon after.”

“That means that we can engage even more intensely, also with the American side, to see what they want to deliver in terms of their participation in security guarantees,” Rutte told reporters.

However, European unity appeared fragile in the lead-up to the summit. In Germany, officials pushed back against comments by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who claimed that capitals were working on “pretty precise plans” with a “clear road map” for potential deployments to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who will attend the Paris talks in person, said he had “discussed preparatory work on security guarantees” with Macron during a visit to the French capital earlier in the week.

“We also discussed defence support for Ukraine — addressing current needs, strengthening sanctions against Russia and the possibilities for using frozen Russian assets,” Zelenskyy added.

He also held talks in Copenhagen on September 3 with leaders from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Iceland and Sweden.

“We discussed this in detail, with the possible contributions of each country,” Zelenskyy said. “Now we will fill it with specifics: who does what on land, in the air, at sea, and in cyber space. Our army is the core of this system; strong and large enough to resist Russia. This means weapons and financing, and we are working on it."

By Sabina Mammadli