Ukrainian army could help guard Europe's borders after victory

Andrius Kubilius, the European Commissioner for Defense Affairs, stated that Ukrainian troops could help defend EU borders once peace has been established. According to Kubilius, the Ukrainian army's experience would make their presence valuable to allies.

Kubilius made this statement during the press conference Baltic Defense 2025: Lessons from the War in Ukraine in Vilnius on Monday, November 17, as reported by Politico.

Ukrainian Armed Forces could protect the EU's borders

He believes Ukrainian soldiers could be sent to defend the European Union from Russia. However, he said this would only be possible after a peace agreement is reached between Ukraine and Russia.

"It would be good that a battle-tested Ukraine 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 and in Lithuania, next to German brigade and the rotating U.S. battalions," Kubilius said in Vilnius.

Additionally, the European Commissioner clarified that the deployment of Ukrainian troops would not impact Germany's decision to deploy a tank brigade to Lithuania, the presence of U.S. troops in the region, or NATO's collective defense provision under Article 5.

"We Lithuanians, we learned in our history that it’s better to have multiple guarantees for your security," he said

He added that NATO's collective defense clause should be reinforced with the EU's security initiatives, which should have "with a clear mechanism how they will be implemented". 

Meanwhile, Politico notes that the deployment of Ukrainian soldiers to defend EU borders is currently a distant prospect as Russia continues its advance in eastern Ukraine and Putin shows no willingness to compromise and end the war.

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