Britain and France are preparing plans to deploy up to 15,000 troops to Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement, a figure significantly lower than earlier expectations and far below the numbers once envisaged by military planners. The scaled-back proposal reflects concerns within the UK Ministry of Defence about the size and readiness of the British Army, according to details disclosed by The Times UK.
Senior British military figures had initially suggested committing as many as 10,000 UK troops as part of a broader 64,000-strong “coalition of the willing” force designed to help stabilise Ukraine after a ceasefire. However, defence officials have since concluded that such a contribution would be unsustainable. Military sources told The Times UK that the UK would struggle to deploy even 7,500 personnel, given that the regular army currently has around 71,000 trained soldiers.
France is the only other country that has so far committed to sending troops directly into Ukraine and is expected to make up the remainder of the proposed force. The deployment would be focused on western Ukraine, away from the front line, and would be intended as a reassurance and support mission rather than a combat operation. President Emmanuel Macron said this week that several thousand French troops could be sent as a “force of reassurance”, stressing that they would not be engaged in fighting.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has not publicly specified how many British troops would be deployed, but on Tuesday he signed an agreement allowing UK forces to operate from “military hubs” on Ukrainian soil. Under the plan, British and French personnel would help train Ukrainian forces and oversee the construction of protected facilities for storing weapons and military equipment to support Ukraine’s long-term defence.
According to a declaration signed by coalition members in Paris, the United States would take the lead on high-tech monitoring of any ceasefire line. Senior figures inside the UK Ministry of Defence believe that President Vladimir Putin would be unlikely to violate a ceasefire brokered by President Donald Trump, given concerns in Moscow over how Washington might respond to any breach.
The reduced scale of the proposed deployment highlights the difficulty European nations face in generating large forces for overseas missions. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the former chief of the defence staff, asked European counterparts last year whether they could assemble a 64,000-strong force for Ukraine. As The Times UK reported at the time, defence ministers across the continent warned there was little chance of reaching that number, with even 25,000 troops described as a stretch.
Some eastern Nato members remain hesitant to commit forces, fearing that deployments to Ukraine would weaken their own border defences. Military sources said countries on Nato’s eastern flank are concerned about potential Russian incursions if troops are diverted, and there is still uncertainty about how the coalition would respond if Russia tested the mission or if Ukraine itself breached a ceasefire.
Germany is understood to be considering deploying forces closer to Ukraine, possibly in Poland or Romania, rather than inside the country. Additional troops and assets would also be required to provide air support and other capabilities, further increasing the strain on European militaries.
John Foreman, a former British defence attaché to Moscow and Kyiv, warned that a prolonged training and support mission inside Ukraine could undermine the UK’s ability to refocus its army on high-end warfighting and meet its Nato commitments. He questioned whether the government had fully grasped the need to increase defence spending more quickly, noting that British forces cannot be deployed everywhere at once.
A Ministry of Defence source said no final numbers have been agreed and stressed that any deployment would depend on multiple factors, including the terms of a ceasefire and the evolving security situation. Nonetheless, the emerging plans suggest that Europe’s post-war presence in Ukraine, if it materialises, will be far more limited than originally envisioned.
