Really. I just don’t understand. This is not just being delusional. It is being delusional and advertising it. This is UK Defence Secretary, John Healey, (with a very puce face if you follow the Guardian link): [1] (He is at some meeting of the fabulous (in the mystical sense) coalition of the willing).
We cannot jeopardise the peace by forgetting about the war, so we must put even more pressure on Putin and step up our support for Ukraine – both in today’s fight and the push for peace. Our commitment is to put Ukraine in the strongest position to protect Ukraine’s sovereignty and deter future Russian aggression.
The UK government web site adds some context:
The meetings will focus on how the capabilities of each nation in the Coalition could be best used in supporting Ukraine’s long-term defence and security.
The Prime Minister and Defence Secretary have both been clear that a lasting peace in Ukraine will require credible security assurances to deter Russian aggression. The UK has been stepping up to lead international support to keep Ukraine in the fight now and put them in the strongest possible position to secure peace.
Have they not heard anything coming from Russia? The problem is they don’t want a heavily militarised country on their borders run by nationalists and armed to the teeth by the West. That is more or less, why they launched their operation in February 2022. The demilitarisation of Ukraine is one of their central demands. How is arming Ukraine to the teeth going to help end the war? How do you end a war by committing to endlessly recreating the conditions which started it?
And, what is it about these people that makes them think that if they use the language of the corporate boardroom, “swing in behind”, “step up”, that somehow that is going to make it all work?
True; Russia will be pleased if the US can come up with some reversal of the decision to invite Ukraine into NATO, but substituting this for a Coalition of the Willing will hardly look to the Russians that much better, not least because some of these Coalition of the Willing countries are NATO members. Trump, I think, has at least been sensible enough to say that if these forces (hypothetical and almost fabulous) got into trouble in Ukraine it would not be a NATO matter. But, that aside, one of Russia’s aims is the demilitarisation of Ukraine, so how is massively militarising going to help end the war?
The stupidity knows no bounds. As this site has already pointed out, it is absolutely clear, that Zelensky and co. do not see the “Collation of the Willing” as “peacekeepers” but as ancillary forces. “Our army alone is not enough, we need your support”. [2]
This is porcupine Ukraine à la von der Leyen, and as far as I can see the compensation package for the losers. But, it still won’t work!
Notes
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/apr/10/ursula-von-der-leyen-trump-tariff-pause-stabilising-global-economy-europe-latest-updates-news?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with%3Ablock-67f7c22d8f08ecc65185aaba#block-67f7c22d8f08ecc65185aaba & https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-and-france-convene-first-defence-ministers-ukraine-coalition-of-the-willing-meeting
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/feb/15/russia-ukraine-war-munich-security-conference-jd-vance-zelenskyy-putin-europe-latest-news-updates