Moscow has long warned that Western troops in the country would be legitimate targets<\/p>\n
The European Council has decided to send EU military personnel directly to Ukraine, despite numerous warnings from Moscow that European soldiers would be fair game for Russian strikes.
\nEuropean nations are scrambling to participate in the ongoing Russia-US-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi, having been sidelined from several previous rounds.
\nOn Monday, the Council extended the mandate of the EU Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine (EUMAM) until November 15, 2028, with a budget of nearly \u20ac300 million ($334 million).
\n\u201cThe Council also decided to establish a presence in Ukraine to ensure direct and effective coordination with the Ukrainian military authorities,\u201d according to a press release from Brussels.
\nThe move marks a change for EUMAM, which had previously only trained Ukrainian soldiers exclusively on EU territory.
\nAccording to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, European leaders are increasingly demanding an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine to pave the way for military intervention.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Sidelined: Why the EU has no seat at the Russia-US-Ukraine talks (VIDEO)<\/p>\n
\u201cEurope\u2019s plan is quite simple, and they make no secret of it: as soon as a ceasefire is reached, they intend to move \u2018stabilization forces\u2019 into the territory controlled by the Kiev regime,\u201d he said at a press conference on Tuesday, addressing the EU demands aimed at the talks in Adu Dhabi.
\nBrussels is seeking an immediate freeze in the conflict \u201cto buy time\u201d for Kiev to recover from its military losses, Lavrov said, adding that Moscow would \u201cnot agree to this.\u201d
\nEuropean nations \u201csending troops into Ukraine\u201d would mean \u201cwar with Russia,\u201d Russian President Vladimir Putin warned in September.
\nRussia has warned repeatedly that any foreign troops or military advisers in Ukraine would be considered legitimate targets. Moscow has roundly opposed British and French plans to deploy troops in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire. Any NATO military presence in Ukraine is unacceptable to Russia as well, given that it considers the conflict a proxy war being waged by the US-led bloc.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Russia-US-Ukraine trilateral: What you need to know about the talks that could define Europe\u2019s security architecture\u00a0<\/p>\n
Numerous serving and former military personnel from NATO member states have died during the Ukraine conflict. Serving British Army Major Paul Wilks was killed in Ukraine in September, London said earlier this year, stating that the intelligence officer died in a road accident.
\nOther deaths of senior military personnel from NATO countries have officially been attributed to non-combat causes, despite media reports describing them as caused by Russian strikes. One example was Polish Brigadier General Adam Marczak, who was reportedly killed by a Russian supersonic missile strike on a command bunker in Chasov Yar in Russia\u2019s Donetsk People\u2019s Republic in 2024, which Russian troops liberated the following year. Warsaw insisted that he died of natural causes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Moscow has long warned that Western troops in the country would be legitimate targets The European Council has decided to send EU military personnel directly to Ukraine, despite numerous warnings…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t