UK allocates $270 million for future peacekeeping force

The U.K. has allocated 200 million pounds ($270 million) to equip British soldiers as part of a future multinational peacekeeping force, the UK's defense chief said during a visit to Kyiv on Jan. 9.
"We are surging investment into our preparations (...) ensuring that Britain’s Armed Forces are ready to deploy, and lead, the multinational force (in) Ukraine, because a secure Ukraine means a secure U.K.," U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey said.
The U.K. and France on Jan. 6 signed a declaration of intent for a post-war deployment of troops in Ukraine during a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, Ukraine, and the US. in Paris.
The meeting was the latest in a flurry of diplomatic activity. Backed by European allies, Ukraine is aiming to refine a U.S.-Russia peace deal that emerged in November last year, which included Russian maximalist demands tantamount to Kyiv's capitulation.
The cash would be used for upgrading vehicles, communications systems, and drone defense used by British troops in Ukraine, according to a U.K. government press release.
Speaking at a press conference after the Paris summit, French President Emmanuel Macron said that partners were ready to deploy the force "a day" after an eventual ceasefire is reached.
Le Monde reported on Jan. 9 that President Macron convened French lawmakers to present a plan to send thousands of French troops to Ukraine once a peace deal is reached.
However, Maria Zakharova, the Russia's foreign ministry official spokesperson, strongly rejected a multinational peacekeeping force as a part of any peace framework in a statement on Jan. 8.
Referring to the deployment of western military troops and infrastructure in Ukraine, Zakharova said that "all such units and facilities will be considered as legitimate military targets for the Russian Armed Forces."











