A senior British officer has taken command of the multinational force that would deploy to Ukraine once hostilities end, the Ministry of Defence stated.
Lieutenant General Tom Bateman took over the Multinational Force Ukraine from his French counterpart at a handover ceremony held at the force’s operational headquarters in Paris. The move is a planned rotation between the two countries as part of their joint leadership of the force, and follows confirmation last week by the UK, France and other Coalition of the Willing leaders that the force will run exercises in the coming months to demonstrate it can act once fighting stops.
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting was quoted in the press release as saying: “The frontline in Ukraine is the frontline for our freedom and democracy. Our commitment to supporting Ukraine, both in the fight now, and in preparation to secure the peace we want to see, remains steadfast and will not waver. We are proud to take command of this multinational force, which demonstrates the leading role we will continue to play in supporting our Ukrainian friends.” He added: “Lieutenant General Bateman is a distinguished officer who has already displayed military leadership on a national and international level. His command will help strengthen our efforts to support Ukraine’s future security.”
According to the MOD, the force has two stated aims, regeneration and reassurance. In the event of peace it would work to strengthen the Armed Forces of Ukraine through training and equipment replenishment, while patrols in the skies and seas are intended to give Kyiv the confidence to restore commercial air travel and rebuild its economy. A headquarters would also be established in Kyiv.
Bateman was quoted in the press release as saying: “It is a privilege to assume command of the MNF-U here at its Operational Headquarters in Paris. Building on the excellent work of my predecessor and his multinational team, we will continue to work closely with our Ukrainian and international partners to prepare a force that will help support a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”
He continued: “At a time of continued Russian aggression against Ukraine, our work demonstrates the enduring commitment of participating nations to Ukraine’s long-term security, sovereignty and stability. I am honoured to work side by side with the new French Deputy Commander to provide continued British and French leadership to this important Multinational Force which has been declared ‘Ready to Operate’ at the recent Coalition of the Willing summit.”
Bateman’s career spans more than 30 years, including as Commander of the Standing Joint Force Headquarters, the UK’s rapidly deployable headquarters for responding to crises overseas, and as Commander of the British Army’s 1st Division.
The Coalition of the Willing was formed under British and French leadership to co-ordinate support for Ukraine and to plan for the security arrangements that would follow any settlement. Its composition has grown to take in dozens of countries across Europe and beyond, though the shape and size of any deployment has remained contingent on a ceasefire that has yet to materialise. The force reaching “Ready to Operate” status means it now exists as a standing structure with a command chain and headquarters, rather than a plan on paper, with the exercises announced last week intended to test that in practice.
It pays to read the article rather than just the headline ! 😁
God damn, that’s quite the clickbait headline.
Yup.
Easily misconstrued.
No it’s not.
British thumb twiddlers……best in the world.
Embarrassing that the U.K. and France still think they can muster and deploy a force large enough to act as peacekeepers even with other countries getting involved.
It’s pure delusional nonsense – the British Army for instance can’t sustain a meaningful deployment of that kind – it’s been wrecked by the legacy political parties with their horrendous cuts and continuing underfunding.
Plus Russia and little man Putin will never agree to it.
Doesn’t stop politicians Grandstanding.
I await with interest to see just what the British Army csn contribute to it, and for how long.
The force doesn’t exist, the HQ is a framework command incase it’s ever activated, which I’d be surprised if it was.
Don’t forget the commitments to defend the Indo Pacific with the carrier strike group!!
And, a bit further back, defending S Korea. They, and the US, certainly need no help there.
I’d support helping in the Far East as a P5 member with a military to match, but the politicians talk and don’t fund.
Didn’t stop the sole operational SSN at that point going there, amazing.
Villain, I have a horrible feeling that our politicians think that the British Army could provide a Brigade or Brigade Group of up to 6,000 which roules every 6 months for decades to come. We can’t. It was a struggle doing that in Afghanistan from an army of 82,000 (and then the army had to deploy some TA and have some 6-month stints done by 3 Cdo Bde RM) and that was before Op CABRIT in Estonia started.
Certainly Putin would not sign a peace treaty/agreement which permitted troops from NATO countries who are very pro-Ukraine to be in MNF-U.
It does seem inevitable that we will end up in a complicit with Russia at some point in the not to distant future. Whist we still have time we need to bolster UK defences because the war will come from missiles and aircraft.
The frontline in Ukraine is the frontline for our freedom and democracy.
Surely therefore WE should have troops on that frontline.
The General says: “…British and French leadership to this important Multinational Force which has been declared ‘Ready to Operate’ at the recent Coalition of the Willing summit.”
How can MNF-U be Ready to Operate when we don’t know who the contributing nations are, how many troops each is providing, what their TOR or ROE are and they don’t seem to have had a single exercise yet!
The article quotes Bateman as having been in command of the British Army’s First Division, a seemingly impressive accolade.
On paper it seems like quite an important thing, but when you put into context that the British Army only consists of around 20,000 deployable frontline combat troops, it’s much less significant.
The Army is literally a malitia.
It helps your trolling if you know what a Militia is and how to spell it comrade.
Yes, i resisted commenting. Royal Monmouthshire
( Militia ) Royal Engineers!
Ops, Militia at the end, not before.
I’d also think it’s a lot more than 20k as well. Thought the Infantry alone was just below that.
Sadly not according to government released figures.
army-technology(dotcom)/news/british-army-has-under-19000-troops-able-to-fully-deploy-in-combat/
Morning Padre.
Those figures would imply then that there are 50,000 soldiers sat injured, medically undeployable, or in training and support roles.
Which I find complete nonsense.
I looked at that article. Those figures are for MFD! If you add MLD it gets to a few thousand more.
The minor detail you omitted and which the article states in a paragraph further down is that those figures ONLY relate to the Infantry, RAC, and AAC!
So if you add the vast bulk of the rest of the Army, so the RS, RE, RA, IC from CS and the REME, RLC, AGC from the CSS you’ll find there are an awful lot more.
An Army has a lot more than Infantry and Armour.
I do realise there are more elements, but this figure makes up the bulk of forces who would actually go off and fight a war on the front line. It is still a small number and that is what I was making the point about.
I also appreciate your constructive reply and efforts to discuss the content in the post. Others would do well to develop that ability instead of acting unhinged.
Hey dumbass: The majority of troops deploying are in combat support and combat support services roles.
you need intervention by mental health services. Look at yourself and the way you behave.
Pot kettle black much?
Yep, the Army is too small, no doubt about that.
Side note, the regular Infantry, AAC, and RAC have between them about 46 battalion equivalents by my count. CS and CSS (minus ETG, CMC etc) have 88 battalion equivalents.
Interesting, I’d never tried totalling them all up, I’ll have a play later with it.
Trolling? Since when is putting a fact out there trolling?
And then your feeble attempt to be the grammar police? Well …. that just adds sooooo much weight to your opinion.
Instead of just attacking people who post because you don’t like what they say, why not at least attempt to have a healthy discussion about the topic? It might make you look more intelligent.
Took you nearly a month to come up with that come back. You are either stupid or a troll. I gave you the benefit of the doubt and assumed you where just baiting for a reaction.
Seems Padre ommitted the bulk of the Field Army. Those figures are MFD and then MLD only and ommitted all the CS and CSS elements, only including Infantry, RAC, and the AAC as “combat arms.” 😆
As I said, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and was willing to assume they where just being deliberately obtuse and trolling. But maybe they do just struggle with basics like reading comprehension.
Dern …. your comments are literally the exact definition of being a troll. Unlike some, I have a life and priorities, and while I may make a comment, I don’t always come back to read replies immediately, and my email address is mostly unmonitored. Who are you to be going around and making accusations at people like you’re something special? You’re not. If you can’t construct a meaningful dialogue about the topic in question, go troll somewhere else.
I’m not trolling you: I’m calling you out. You can’t post a trolling comment and then cry foul when you get called out on it. You couldn’t even spell Militia correctly, and acted like anyone should take your figures seriously.
And yes, if you take weeks and weeks to think of a reply to a comment bon a thread that is long dead, then it’s not “life and priorities” it’s a troll necroposting. A day, or two, even a week is understandable. The better part of a month? Grow up and move on.
What has spelling got to do with it? Stop acting like an unhinged loon.
If you actually attempted to discuss the post instead of just lashing out with insults and pathetic attempts to belittle people, you might actually seem like you’re not a troll.
Oh dear already forgotten how this started I see…. I guess it’s confirmed you are just stupid.
Unlike you, I don’t have the luxury of sitting there with my email open waiting to jump on every person who reads an article and makes a point, just so I can insult and belittle people for not knowing the ins and outs of every little thing.
Take a moment to realise that some people do more in life than sit on the internet and soak up every bit of information out there. There is actually more to life than what you clearly do.
As for this being “a long dead thread”, what complete nonsense. The article and it’s contents are still relevant, and some people digest information in articles months after they have been written, but unfortunately you seem to have the attention span of a 5 year old and judge everyone by your standards, which is again unhinged behaviour..
Oh I see you needed a few moments again to process a reply rather than keeping it all in one post. Fine. But I also see that your reading comprehension still needs work.
You seem to have missed the bit where I pointed out that there is no expectation to reply immediately, that a pause of a few days or a week is absolutely fine, but hey, reading is hard. I get it.
Also: You don’t know the ins and outs of everything. That would be fine, if it didn’t come with definitive statements about the condition of the army and declaring it a “malitia.” That is looking for a reaction. And now your crying because you got one.
Attempting to discuss anything in a rational way with you is impossible. You always resort to insults and that is the limit of your capabilities.
You are nothing but a troll who is mentally unhinged, so kindly go and seek the help you so clearly need.
If you are having trouble discussing things with me rationally, I’m sorry to tell you, but the problem is on your end. Plenty of people who don’t know things on here, plenty of people I’ve had completely rational conversations with.
Usually they don’t start by fishing for a reaction. I meet people where they are at. You act like a troll. I treat you like a troll.
i.e. 2-division command experience?
John, what do you mean by 2-division command experience?
Are you alluding to his command of 1st Div and then of Standing Joint Force Headquarters (SJFHQ), which is a rapidly deployable component of British Forces that provides the operational HQ to the Joint Expeditionary Force?
Assume he means a Corps Command, which is 2 Divisions plus.
He’s a Lt General, which is the rank of the GOC ARRC.
Previous he would have been a Major General, for 1 Division Command, and I recall SJFHQ is commanded by a 1 Star Brigadeer.