British troops won’t help Ukraine

Sir Keir Starmer’s proposal to put British troops on the ground as part of a peacekeeping force in Ukraine is a principled and politically bold move. But the sad reality is that Britain is in no position to act as Ukraine’s peacekeeper. Starmer is playing with an empty deck and singing from obsolete songbook. 

Starmer’s offer to put British troops on the ground is, in practical military terms, a very small promise. As former British Army chief Lord Dannatt pointed out last night, the UK’s armed forces are ‘so run down’ that we could not lead any future peacekeeping mission in Ukraine. Ukraine’s President Volodymir Zelensky has estimated that a peacekeeping force of 200,000 foreign troops would be needed to police a 1,250 kilometre long line of contact. But the entire deployable force that Britain has is a mere 56,000 – compared to 1.1