Former NATO chief: some alliance members may send troops to Ukraine if Kyiv not provided security guarantees

A group of NATO countries may be willing to “put troops on the ground in Ukraine” if member states do not provide tangible security guarantees to Kyiv at the alliance’s summit in Vilnius, former NATO secretary general Anders Rasmussen told The Guardian.

“If NATO cannot agree on a clear path forward for Ukraine, there is a clear possibility that some countries individually might take action,” he said.

Rasmusen believes the Baltic States and Poland might do this. “The Poles feel that for too long western Europe did not listen to their warnings against the true Russian mentality,” the former NATO chief said.

Rasmussen said it was imperative that Ukraine should “receive written security guarantees, preferably before the summit, but outside the NATO framework”. These need to cover intelligence sharing, joint Ukraine training, enhanced ammunition production, NATO interoperability and a supply of arms sufficient to deter Russia from a further attack, as The Guardian puts it.

Rasmussen added that “after a slow start, momentum was now building behind these ideas”, including in France.

Rasmussen worked as the secretary general of NATO from 2009 to 2014, followed by Norwegian politician Jens Stoltenberg. Between 2016 and 2019, Rasmussen was a freelance advisor to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

In early June, British Defence Secretary and one of the candidates for NATO Secretary General Ben Wallace said in an interview for The Washington Post that Ukraine would not be invited to the alliance at the July summit in Vilnius.

According to Wallace, the countries participating in the alliance can help Ukraine in the long run by entering into “mutual defence pacts” with it. Thus, they would commit themselves to long-term plans to build the capacity of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, so that “to make sure it’s a very expensive opportunity for Russia or anyone else to invade Ukraine in the future.”

At the same time, the head of the British Defence Ministry was “more optimistic” about Ukraine’s current efforts on the battlefield than US intelligence officials after the leak of classified documents. He believes that Ukraine will be able to retake Crimea, since “the Russian troops are running out of needed equipment.”