According to Euractiv, on September 1 local time, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius strongly refuted the statement by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that "Europe will send troops to Ukraine to implement a ceasefire plan." Pistorius stated that the EU has "no authority" in military matters.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, Xinhua News Agency
Previously, on August 31, von der Leyen said in an interview with the Financial Times that Europe is currently developing a "precise plan" to deploy multinational forces to Ukraine, which has received support from the United States. Von der Leyen claimed that the plan may include deploying tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops.
However, on September 1, Pistorius strongly refuted this claim and said, "Before all parties sit at the negotiation table, these issues should not be discussed... I will not comment on or confirm such a plan in any way, let alone the fact that the EU has no authority in military matters."
German Chancellor Merkel had previously publicly stated that "no one is talking about sending ground forces to Ukraine at the moment."
Before this, both the UK and France openly supported a "voluntary alliance" to send multinational forces to Ukraine, thereby providing security guarantees for Ukraine. However, as one of the major economic and military powers in Europe, Germany has always been reluctant to take a proactive stance on this issue.
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