Latvian Foreign Minister says NATO not ready to participate in Ukraine conflict
The North Atlantic Alliance is not ready to enter the conflict in Ukraine, Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže said on January 15.
"At the moment NATO is not ready to join <conflict> because the clear concept is that [in the West] Ukraine's self-defense is supported, everyone provides everything necessary, but no one wants to be part of <conflict>, to conduct hostilities," she told The Kyiv Independent.
Brazhe called the hypothetical possibility of sending EU troops to Ukraine a serious step for Europe, which fears escalation.
Earlier in the day, The Telegraph reported that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were considering sending peacekeepers to Ukraine. According to her, it is about the period after the conclusion of a deal on the settlement of the conflict, the details of the negotiations are kept secret.
Before that, on January 13, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (powers expired on May 20, 2024) and Macron discussed by phone the initiative to deploy Western military units on Ukrainian territory. At the same time, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte urged the alliance's countries to step up assistance to Kiev.
Western countries stepped up military and financial support for Ukraine after the start of Russia's special operation to protect Donbas. The decision to carry it out was announced on February 24, 2022 amid an aggravation of the situation in the region.
