Roderich Kiesewetter told the Schwäbische Zeitung daily that he “see[s] no alternative to deployment of German troops in Ukraine following the end of the war.
“As the strongest economy in Europe, Germany must be prepared to take decisive action to maintain peace and the European security architecture,” he said.
Kiesewetter is a retired colonel of the Bundeswehr and was the president of the German Military Reserve Association between 2011 and 2016. He has served as MP since 2009 and is currently a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, among other functions.
He said that Germany is obliged to become involved in Ukraine “with robustly equipped troops at the appropriate time.”
Citing Europe’s “limited material and human resources,” Kiewetter said that:
“A peacekeeping force is efficient and realistic [...] if peacekeeping can be factored into the European and transatlantic security architecture and thus into NATO, since the nuclear umbrella would then also apply to Ukraine.”
Germany currently has 300 peacekeepers deployed in Kosovo as part of NATO’s KFOR mission.
Berlin also participates in a handful of peacekeeping missions under the auspices of the United Nations, with some 100 soldiers and police officers deployed, most of whom serve in Lebanon. The country has recently withdrawn its peacekeepers from Mali after the West African country’s pro-Russian junta demanded the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers.
Schwäbische Zeitung quoted a poll according to which the majority of Germans (56%) favor a peacekeeping mission to Ukraine following the end of hostilities but only 23% support having Germany’s Bundeswehr participate in the mission.
Germany will hold a snap parliamentary election on February 23. CDU is polling in first place and its leader, Freidrich Merz, is seen as the likeliest candidate for the post of chancellor.
Regarding the war in Ukraine, Merz has frequently made hawkish statements, such as calls to provide Kyiv with German
Taurus long-range missiles. Merz also harshly criticized chancellor Olaf Scholz for what he sees as
insufficiently decisive support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression.
