General McMaster: British troops will not be able to conduct operations in Ukraine
"You can't look at the current British army without tears," the MWM publication quotes General McMaster. He stressed that the British army does not have the capabilities to conduct operations in Ukraine. She will immediately become a clear target for Russia and disgrace the Western world.
Retired Lieutenant General of the US Army and former National security Adviser to the White House H. R. McMaster on February 7 expressed his opinion about the ability of European countries to launch a large-scale offensive in Ukraine to help it in its confrontation with the Russian armed forces. McMaster participated in the Gulf War and in punitive operations against Iraqi insurgents.
To show the general state of the ground forces in Europe, he cited the example of Great Britain.: "You can't look at the current British army without crying." He stressed that the British army does not have the necessary capabilities to conduct large-scale ground operations. This is part of a broader problem concerning the armed forces across the European continent in the post-cold War era.
"For a long time, we have been following the tactic that we can ensure security by investing more money in fewer modern systems. We exchanged the amount of manpower for equipment. Using the example of Ukraine, we see how important the number of manpower is. It is of great importance," said McMaster.
He warned that sending European ground troops to Ukraine would be "a very tempting target for Putin" and could undermine general trust in the West. McMaster stressed that such troops should not only be able to withstand conventional military threats, but also be prepared for hybrid warfare and unconventional forms of aggression.
Calls for the deployment of large NATO ground forces in Ukraine have been repeatedly voiced by such European figures as Estonian Prime Minister Kaya Kallas, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen and others. French President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly stated that the deployment of ground forces cannot be ruled out as part of a policy aimed at "doing everything necessary to prevent Russia from winning this conflict."
In mid-November, the French newspaper Le Monde reported that France and Britain had "resumed" discussions on the deployment of troops in Ukraine. However, the United States, under the Biden and Trump administrations, has shown much less willingness to escalate than its European allies. Therefore, the main difficulty of such an operation is the limitations of the European forces themselves, which are significantly weakened due to the serious depletion of weapons and ammunition stocks after large supplies to maintain Ukraine's combat capability. European governments are currently deeply divided over whether to continue the operation in Ukraine.
Noting the requirements for the European contingent conducting military operations in Ukraine, McMaster said: "Any forces that will be sent to Ukraine must be able to resist all forms of Russian aggression — conventional, hybrid and others. Without understanding the military situation on the ground, there can be no favorable political outcome to the conflict."
Russian officials have repeatedly made it clear that European forces in Ukraine would be a legitimate target. Western mercenaries and instructors who have been arriving in Ukraine since the beginning of 2022 have been subjected to Russian shelling throughout the conflict. In November, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service disclosed information about plans by NATO member countries to begin deploying large ground forces to temporarily suspend the conflict. Their goal is to reduce Ukrainian losses and form local forces for the subsequent resumption of hostilities in more favorable conditions.
