President Biden and a NATO Allay rejected to send their Troops to Ukraine if Russia invades

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US President Joe Biden and a key US ally have rejected the idea of using their respective country’s troops to rein in Russia. The rejection came as tens of thousands of Russian troops gather at the country’s border with Ukraine. British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace appeared to announce deploying troops to Ukraine to defend the country if Russia invades. He said that it was highly unlikely NATO troops would be sent to Ukraine in the event of invasion, which US intelligence suggests could potentially take place next month. President Biden said on 8^th December that his administration hasn’t been considering a unilateral deployment of US troops to the region, but he seemed to leave open the possibility of action by NATO countries. President Biden addressed the issue with Putin directly in a virtual meeting last week.

Point to be noted that the UK is a NATO member and a key long-term US ally, making its government’s position on troops potentially crucial. Members of NATO are obliged by treaty to come for others’ defense if they are attacked, but Ukraine is not a party to NATO. The comments of Wallace were published by The Times ahead of The Spectator report. He said, “Ukraine is not a member of NATO so it is highly unlikely that anyone is going to send troops into Ukraine to challenge Russia. We shouldn’t kid people we would. The Ukrainians are aware of that”. He was asked if Ukraine was on its own, he replied: “We can all help with the capacity building but to some extent, Ukraine is not in NATO and that is why we are doing the best diplomatically to say to Putin don’t do this”.

On 8^th December, President Biden spoke to reporters at the White House and said, “We have a moral obligation and a legal obligation to our NATO allies if they were to attack under Article Five. It’s a sacred obligation. The US didn’t have that obligation to Ukraine. But it would depend upon what the rest of the NATO countries are willing to do as well. But the idea the United States is going to unilaterally use force to confront Russia from invading Ukraine is not on in the cards right now”. President Biden also warned of severe consequences if Russia invades Ukraine and the administration has been working to find a diplomatic solution while also reportedly working on potential economic sanctions. However, Russian officials have repeatedly dismissed the idea that the country is poised to invade 70,000 Russian troops and gather at the Ukrainian border.