Aysu Bicer
08 June 2023•Update: 09 June 2023
LONDON
Certain individual NATO member states might consider deploying troops to Ukraine if other members or the alliance in general do not offer significant security assurances to Kyiv, especially at its summit this July, according to a former NATO chief.
"If NATO cannot agree on a clear path forward for Ukraine, there is a clear possibility that some countries individually might take action,” former Secretary General Anders Rasmussen, now serving as an official adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told Britain’s The Guardian in a piece published Wednesday.
Paying visits to various European capitals and Washington ahead of the Vilnius, Lithuania summit, Rasmussen has been stressing the importance of providing Ukraine with written security assurances, said the daily, including such areas as intelligence sharing, training support, ammunition production, and ongoing arms supplies.
Rasmussen said while these guarantees are crucial, they should not overshadow Ukraine's primary focus on its path towards NATO membership.
“We know that Poland is very engaged in providing concrete assistance to Ukraine. And I wouldn’t exclude the possibility that Poland would engage even stronger in this context on a national basis and be followed by the Baltic states, maybe including the possibility of troops on the ground," he said.
Rasmussen served as Denmark’s prime minister from 2001 to 2009 and NATO secretary general from 2009 to 2014, when he was succeeded by Jen Stoltenberg, the current alliance chief.
