The secret plan of a peacekeeping mission, created by the Polish Ministry of Defense, likely envisions an international contingent of up to 10,000 troops being sent to Ukraine, according to an unofficial report published by Polish news outlet Onet.
The President of Poland Andrzej Duda is said to be waiting with the approval of the plan for a green light from the White House.
The contingent would be comprised of units from several countries, but Ukraine would first have to give approval for it to enter Ukrainian territory.
Tasks set for NATO soldiers would include protecting the humanitarian corridors and closing the airspace above them.
“It means setting up military units, at a distance from the frontlines, that would be tasked with defending humanitarian convoys with food and medicine and the ones allowing civilians to escape danger,” the article reads.
One of the scenarios includes implementing a no-fly zone over the largest of Ukraine’s cities, which would mark a serious escalation and likely a direct conflict with Russia.
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The plan is not yet finished, as it is still being worked on by the Ministry of Defence with Law and Justice (PiS) leadership and consulted with the Chancellery of the President of Poland. Onet claims that there was a disagreement between the government and the President Duda who supposedly doesn’t want to support the project until the Americans give the operation a green light.
Before the Thursday NATO summit in Brussels, the plan is to be sent to Washington. The fate of this project depends on the decision made by the White House.
The deputy prime minister of Poland and PiS head, Jarosław Kaczyński, visited Kyiv along the prime ministers of Poland, Czech Republic and Slovenia, where they all met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Denys Shmyhal, the prime minister of Ukraine. During the press conference in Kyiv, Jarosław Kaczyński made a proposal of sending a peace mission to Ukraine under NATO command.
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“I would like to appeal to conscience of the European leaders. I think that it is necessary to have a peace mission: NATO, possibly some wider international structure. But a mission that will be able to defend itself, which will operate on Ukrainian territory,” said Kaczyński in Kyiv.
The spokesman for the U.S. State Department, Ned Price, and the White House press secretary Jen Psaki, both voiced skepticism towards the plan proposed by Poland, although Washington agreed that the plan will be discussed during President Joe Biden’s visit to Warsaw on Friday.
