Italy Willing to Send Peacekeeping Mission to Ukraine, Says Italian Defense Minister

Italy is willing to take part in a possible future international peacekeeping mission to Ukraine, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto stated on December 12, according to Italian news agency Ansa.

“I hope to talk about peace, about peacekeeping,” Crosetto said, “We are willing to play this role, a role in which we have always distinguished ourselves as a nation.”

Some Western countries have been revisiting the possibility of sending troops or private military contractors as peacekeepers to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.

In a meeting in Warsaw on December 12, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and French President Emmanuel Macron were expected to discuss the potential deployment of a peacekeeping force to Ukraine, although no information has yet been publicly released.

“It is true,” an EU diplomat confirmed when asked about a report in the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita claiming the two countries are discussing a potential 40,000-strong peacekeeping force made up of foreign troops. The diplomat did not specify which nations might contribute soldiers.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, during a NATO meeting in Brussels on December 4, stated that German military forces could potentially be sent to support peace in Ukraine if a ceasefire were to be reached with Russia.

It appears Crosetto’s statement, however, does not reflect Italy’s general consensus on the prospect of a peacekeeping mission to Ukraine. Italian Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani said that the consideration of such a proposal is premature as Russia’s war is still ongoing.

On December 9, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine is open to considering the deployment of foreign peacekeepers to its territory, but only after receiving a clear timeline of its NATO accession, which it regards as integral to its future security.