Europe has promised Ukraine a ‘reassurance force’ when the war ends – but will it enrage Putin?

Europe is increasingly exploring ways to guarantee Ukraine’s security after the war, including through the creation of a multinational reassurance force that could support Armed Forces training, strengthen deterrence and help uphold a future peace agreement.

Leonid Litra, Senior Research Fellow at the New Europe Center, Visiting Fellow at the ECFR, shared his perspective on what such a mission could look like and why size does not necessarily determine effectiveness.

“A smaller force would not undermine the rationale of the mission”, the expert explained.

Leo Litra noted that presence matters, even limited contingents have proven impactful historically, citing early US deployments in Vietnam and initial troop numbers in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan: “The US mission in Vietnam started with 900 American instructors; the International Security Assistance Force mission in Afghanistan with 5,000 troops”. The US would still need to provide the main guarantees – air defence, intelligence, surveillance – to deter an actual invasion.

Read more on The Independent via the link.