Britain-France Prepare Troops for Deployment to Ukraine

JAKARTA - British and French air forces have completed preparations for a possible peacekeeping mission in Ukraine.

The Telegraph newspaper reported that during exercises in the Brittany region of France, more than 600 soldiers from the British 16th Air Assault Brigade carried out air assault simulations with troops from the French 11th Parachute Brigade, according to the report.

The exercise comes weeks after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that Britain and France would lead peacekeepers in Ukraine if a ceasefire agreement is reached between Moscow and Kiev.

Although the units that may have been involved in the operation have not been announced, soldiers from the 16th Air Assault Brigade are part of Britain's high-alert forces and are capable of being deployed to NATO on short notice, the newspaper added.

On January 6, a high-level meeting of the "willing coalition" took place in Paris. The meeting discussed what was called a security guarantee for Ukraine.

According to the document agreed after the meeting, the "coalition" agreed to continue long-term military support for Kiev. The leaders also signed a declaration of intent to deploy troops to Ukrainian territory if a peace agreement is reached.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the presence of foreign military forces in Ukraine was useless after the possibility of reaching a sustainable peace agreement. He also added that Russia would consider any foreign forces in Ukrainian territory as legitimate targets.