Canada is ready to join a peacekeeping mission in the event of a ceasefire in Ukraine, Defense Minister Bill Blair said.
He made the statement at the annual forum of the Defense Conference Association Institute in Ottawa, reports CBC News.
“Canada is ready and able to contribute to this force,” Blair told reporters after his speech. “But we also believe that there needs to be important discussions about security guarantees for Ukraine and the foreign forces that will serve there.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer led the initiative, which is taking shape after a public conflict in the Oval Office between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Led by Britain and France, the peacekeeping force could include a number of European countries that would send troops to eastern Ukraine if a ceasefire or peaceful settlement is reached. The idea is that the presence of Western troops would deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from rearming and then trying to conquer all of Ukraine.
But the force would need to be backed by security guarantees, primarily from the Americans. The lack of such guarantees in a U.S.-Ukraine mineral resources deal has sparked a public spat between Trump and Zelensky.
U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance has dismissed the effort, saying that American involvement in Ukraine’s economy is “a better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t been at war in 30 or 40 years.”
The comments sparked outrage in Britain and among U.S. Democrats. Among other things, Vance’s remarks ignore the fact that Canadian, British and French forces fought alongside the Americans in Afghanistan. Britain also joined the US in the invasion of Iraq.
A “coalition of the willing” approach would allow the countries — all NATO members — to act as a group, but not under the auspices of the North Atlantic Alliance. This would bypass political divisions within NATO, where Hungary and Slovakia have taken pro-Russian positions and created obstacles to a consensus among the allies.
Russia has so far rejected the idea of a peacekeeping force — NATO, European Union or otherwise.
The Baltic states — Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, along with Finland — have expressed interest in joining Britain, France and Canada. Recently, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was open to the idea of sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.
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