Britain ‘will join alliance to move troops across Europe’

Britain is to enlist in an EU ‘military mobility’ group it had been unable to join after Brexit, according to the Dutch defence minister.

Kajsa Ollongren, the Dutch defence minister, visits Ukrainian soldiers being trained in the north of England by British and Dutch troops.

Britain is to enlist in an EU “military mobility” group it had been unable to join after Brexit so it can move troops and equipment more quickly across the continent, according to the Dutch defence minister.

On a visit to the UK to observe British and Dutch troops that are training Ukrainian forces, Kajsa Ollongren told The Times that ministers in Brussels were expected to approve the final plans next month.

The military mobility project aims to improve the speed at which troops and kit can be deployed across Europe, especially during times of war. The countries that join do not have to go through the same amount of red tape to cross borders and do not need the same approvals from official authorities.

The group is also looking at ways to create Cold War-style corridors across Europe that can be used to transport equipment.

The Netherlands, which is co-ordinating the project, hopes such measures will be a deterrent to any countries waging war against European nations.

As tensions rise as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine, there is a growing wish for European countries and others to be able to respond rapidly to emerging threats. Plans for the UK to join the group are “very much related to the war in Ukraine”, Ollongren said.

“It’s a sensitive issue since Brexit,” she said, adding: “I’m really happy that the UK will join because . . . it is an important partner when it comes to military co-operation [in] aiding Ukraine.”

Kajsa Ollongren says that Britain is an important military partner in Europe

The idea is that Britain will more easily be able to send military kit to Ukraine, as well as equipment and troops to other vulnerable countries in Europe. The group formerly existed only between EU nations, but since Brexit, the United States, Canada and Norway have signed up. Ollongren, who discussed the project with Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, earlier this year, said: “When you are in a war situation, you have to make sure everything is in place and everybody knows what they have to do.”

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said the project supported European security and “our collective response to the invasion of Ukraine” adding: “It will better enable the UK to deploy troops and equipment across the continent as we continue to provide international leadership in response to Russia’s aggression.”

Ollongren said that Britain was an important military partner in Europe

On Tuesday Ollongren, whose grandfather was born in Kyiv, met Ukrainian troops at an undisclosed site in the north of England where British and Dutch military personnel are training them before they head to the front line. She said some of the Ukrainians she met there had not seen their families since the start of the war in February.

This week Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister, made an unsubstantiated allegation that Ukraine was preparing to use a dirty bomb. Shoigu made the claim in calls to his British, French, Turkish and American counterparts over the weekend. Britain, France and the US rejected it as “transparently false”. Ollongren accused Moscow of “continuous distortion”.

The Times