Andrius Kubilius, the European Commissioner for Defence and Space, left, and moderator Vladimir Kara-Murza take part in the Halifax International Security Forum on Saturday.Kelly Clark/The Canadian Press
The limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces in Donald Trump’s proposal to end Russia’s war on its neighbour would leave Kyiv vulnerable to future attacks, a top European Union defence official says.
Andrius Kubilius, the European Commissioner for Defence and Space, said the 27-member EU hopes it can work with battle-tested Ukraine to help defend itself from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Kubilius, who was in Nova Scotia for the Halifax International Security Forum, an annual gathering that includes diplomats and foreign-policy experts, spoke out on the U.S. President’s peace plan to end Moscow’s war.
The proposal, which has been rejected by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, calls for the country’s military to be limited to 600,000 – below current levels – and stipulates that Kyiv would be forbidden from joining NATO.
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“For us, the question is not how to diminish it, but how to strengthen it,” Mr. Kubilius said of Ukraine’s military capacity. “How to integrate it with our capabilities in order to be much stronger.”
He said Europe is preparing for the possibility that Russia will test NATO’s collective-defence pledge by attacking a member state of the alliance in the years ahead.
Most EU states belong to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which under its Article Five obliges members to consider an attack against any to be an attack against all.
The proposal to keep Ukraine out of NATO only benefits Russia, Mr. Kubilius said. It seems to be a stipulation that makes it easier for Moscow to “plan new aggression” against Ukraine.
“Why should we serve Russian interests in such a way?”
He welcomed the Canada-EU Security and Defence Partnership that allows for greater collaboration on issues like maritime security, cyber threats, and defence procurement. “We are in a very strong partnership with similar values and with similar understanding of threats.”
Top European and Ukrainian envoys conferred in Geneva on Sunday ahead of talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio over U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal to end Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The Associated Press
Just last week, Mr. Kubilius outlined a vision for postwar Ukraine where Kyiv’s forces could be deployed along the EU’s eastern borders to defend against aggression from Moscow.
Strategists have voiced concern that Mr. Putin would not want to dismantle his military-focused economy after the conflict with Ukraine ends but instead turn it to other empire-building purposes.
“It would be good that the battle-tested Ukrainian army, after peace has been established in Ukraine, would be ready to be present in all the countries of our frontier region, starting from the Baltic region,” he said on Nov. 17.