Ireland could not “recuse itself” from conversations about what will happen in Ukraine if a settlement deal is agreed with Russia to stop the conflict, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris has said.
The Fine Gael leader said however that European leaders should not “jump” forward to talks about contributing peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, when there was “no evidence” that Russian president Vladimir Putin wanted peace.
Mr Harris was speaking on his way into a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, which is expected to debate how EU states could channel several billion euros of extra military aid to Ukraine, on the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The meeting takes place to the backdrop of heightened anxiety in Europe, about United States president Donald Trump pushing Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy towards a settlement seen as favourable to Russia, potentially undermining Ukraine’s future security.
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Russia signalled on Monday morning that it wanted a long-term ceasefire deal that deals with what it perceives as the causes of its invasion, and expressed scepticism about the US proposals in their current form.
Mr Harris confirmed the Government planned to donate some of the Defence Forces’ ageing air defence radar systems to Ukraine. “The Ukrainian government had expressed an interest in accessing some legacy equipment that we have in the Irish Defence Forces,” he said.
Ireland is in the process of buying a modern radar system, which Mr Harris said he wanted to fast track.
Irish officials are waiting to hear back from Ukrainian authorities about the offer to donate the older radar systems. Mr Harris said the response would determine the timeline and how much equipment Ireland gave to Ukraine.
“This is something that I think could happen relatively quickly, but like I say, I wouldn’t overstate the significance of it, it’s a small amount of what would be termed legacy [equipment],” he said.
Speaking last week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said Ireland would consider sending peacekeeping troops to monitor any ceasefire in Ukraine, if the mission had the backing of an international mandate, similar to the UN force in Lebanon.
Mr Harris said Ireland could not talk about standing with Ukraine and then “recuse itself from conversations around what happens when a war ends”.
However, he added: “I think we can’t just jump to the issue of peacekeeping when we see no evidence yet from Putin that he wants peace.”
Any future mission involving Irish troops would have to remain within the remit of peacekeeping, rather than peace enforcement, he said.
“If we get to a point where there is a peace in place and there is a need for the keeping of that peace, not the enforcing of it, but the keeping of it, and if that happens within the context of the rules that apply in Ireland, of course we’ll engage constructively,” Mr Harris said.
“I think it would be irresponsible and lacking in solidarity for any country to take itself off that pitch.”
It was important that the EU “speaks with one voice” about respecting the territorial integrity of states, he said. “There’s only ever been one aggressor in relation to this conflict. That has been Russia and Putin and his decision to illegally invade a country on the Continent of Europe,” Mr Harris said.
Any deal struck to end the fighting had to be agreed by Ukraine and needed to respect the country’s territorial integrity, he said.
“There truly can be nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. Ukraine isn’t a gift to be offered up by anybody. I think it’s really important that we have a conversation today about how the European Union can play a constructive and engaging role in terms of continuing to support Ukraine and also making sure that any peace talks are within those parameters,” he said.
