Pistorius: Germany will not deploy troops to Ukraine without NATO or UN mandate

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has stated that sending Bundeswehr troops to Ukraine is not on the government’s agenda without an international mandate.

In an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Pistorius emphasised that any overseas deployment of German forces would require Bundestag approval and must fall under a collective mandate — specifically from the EU, NATO, or the United Nations, Caliber.Az reports.

“I remind you of our Basic Law,” he said. “For such an overseas deployment, the Bundeswehr would most likely need the Bundestag’s permission. And that is only possible under the aegis of a collective mandate, that is, within the framework of the EU, NATO, or the UN. However, there are currently no initiatives for this.”

While Pistorius did not rule out the possibility that Berlin could propose such a deployment in the future, he insisted that a sustained ceasefire must be negotiated first. “But for now, we cannot take that step. We must first agree on how to secure a lasting cessation of hostilities,” he explained.

“This is not the time to initiate a UN mandate or a similar operation,” Pistorius added. He noted that Germany and its partners in the “coalition of the willing” and the “Group of Five” are considering the matter, but that “at this moment, peacekeeping forces are clearly not being discussed.”

Asked directly about the prospect of German troops in Ukraine, he replied that it is too soon to say. “I cannot say, because the conditions for any potential deployment are completely unknown. I repeat: a mandate for international collective defence is mandatory. Without a mandate, a deployment of this scale cannot take place. Once it is clear who is responsible for what and under which mandate, we will decide what role we will assume,” he concluded.

By Tamilla Hasanova