Taoiseach to join coalition of the willing talks on Ukraine

Ottoline Spearman

Taoiseach Micheál Martin will remotely join the coalition of the willing as they meet in London on Friday.

The coalition is a group of 30 or so European nations formed earlier this year. The coalition says they will be willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine once the war is over.

The British Prime Minister will host leaders including Volodymyr Zelenskyy for talks on how to increase pressure on Moscow and boost Kyiv's defences.

Allies will be urged to increase Ukraine's supply of long-range weapons to strike back at Russia.

The Trump administration sanctioned Russia's two biggest oil firms this week. As reported by Newstalk, Mr Putin said in response: "This is an unfriendly act towards Russia. It's obvious it doesn't help strengthen Russian-American relations, which have only just begun to recover. Such an action damages [these] relations."

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev also said that the sanctions were an "act of war".

The EU has also ramped up its sanctions this week, targeting the Russian shadow fleet of oil tankers and banning its imports of liquefied natural gas.

Mr Martin has previously attended the coalition's meetings - most recently in September. The Taoiseach said after that meeting that the guarantees for Ukraine "may also include a role for peacekeepers in ensuring that a ceasefire or peace agreement is observed.

"Ireland is open to participating in an approprately-mandated mission of this kind, building on our long and distinguished record of peacekeeping with the United Nations.

"Ireland is also playing its part in building capacity in the Ukrainian Defence Forces, including through the EU’s military training mission and through accelerating the drawdown of the €100 million in bilateral non-lethal military assistance the government agreed earlier this year."