History shows that Ukraine needs large-scale armed peacekeepers to get a chance to succeed

• Peacekeeping personnel often cannot prevent war and even become targets themselves.

• Peacekeeping forces are often more symbolic than firepower.

• The best opportunity for Ukraine is the European Mechanical Brigade with clear missions.

When Europe considers sending peacekeeping forces to Ukraine, the history of peacekeeping missions shows that efforts are far from certain. Peacekeeping personnel often cannot prevent war and even become targets themselves.

Peacekeeping is usually related to the United Nations, which first sent military observers to the Middle East in 1948 to monitor the armistice agreement. Arab-Israel War 1948today there 72,000 and peacekeepers In 11 conflict zones. Russian peacekeepers serve with NATO forces Bosniaon the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory, it has not successfully acted as a buffer between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The African Union also deployed forces from South Africa and African countries in regional conflicts. For poorer countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan, volunteers volunteering to participate in relatively paid UN peacekeeping has become Source of income.

The idea of ​​using European forces to maintain a shaky peace between Ukraine and Russia immediately encountered a defining problem. Will they keep peace there or protect Ukraine? Peacekeeping personnel are often considered neutral, primarily acting as monitors. Indeed, the UN List Four basic principles for maintaining peace: Just, the consent of the belligerent party, and no use of force except self-defense.

Allegations of prejudice against peacekeepers are not uncommon. For example, Israel has long accused Lebanon of neglecting the UN temporary forces Hezbollah Activities Leading Israeli forces along the Israel-Lebanese border Enter Lebanon October.

But European peacekeeping missions will be problematic. Even if Ukraine’s proposed peacekeeping force will be under European rule rather than under NATO hosts, the force will come from NATO or NATO friendly countries. It is hard to believe that Russia would see it as a permanent Western expeditionary force to defend Ukraine against another Russian thing.

There are basically two concepts for the power to maintain peace. One is to act as an armed conflict monitor that can record which aspects violate the agreement. Another is to have enough strength to scale and defend the mandate of the attacked party, similar to the commander of the United Nations in defending South Korea from reinvasion, which has been in operation for more than seventy years.

Either way, there are dangers: what happens when peacekeeping personnel are attacked, or accidentally caught in a firefight or deliberately targeted target?

About 4,423 United Nations peacekeepers Dead As of February 2025, 1,134 of them were killed by “malicious operations”. In Lebanon, UN forces were attacked by fire from Israel and Hezbollah. In January 2025, several UN peacekeepers were killed in eastern Congo.

Peacekeeping forces are often more symbolic than firepower. Those are everywhere White armored vehicle The use of UN forces may be enough to deter unarmed thugs and plunderers, or insurgents using light weapons and free armed forces. But in Congo, it is difficult for UN forces to face rebels Anti-tank missiles and drones.

Any peacekeeping force in Ukraine will be armed to the teeth between the two countries and artillery, tanks, missiles and drones. A fully equipped European mechanical brigade and with the support of air force may have firepower to prevent attacks. In fact, Ukrainian officials It has been said that European peacekeeping missions only make sense when preparing for battle.

On the other hand, Russia invaded Ukrainian rule and kept it away from the EU and NATO. The Kremlin could see the powerful force of British and French troops on the Russian border as a provocation.

Russia doesn’t even need tanks or cannons to make peace untenable. From simple trainers laid out by shady pro-Russian groups to artillery attacks on the barracks “by chance”, there are many ways to harass peacekeepers. While this may risk escalation with Europe and even NATO, Moscow can hope that even some casualties will stimulate the European public to demand troops home.

Ultimately, the success of peacekeeping is through maintaining peace, or at least violence is diluted. There are very few records here. The Israelites still remember 1967 United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) – A buffer zone between Israel and Egypt was stationed in Sinai to meet Egypt’s demands and suddenly remained. The result was that Israel launched a preemptive strike against Egypt during a six-day war. Unifil troops have been stationed along the Israel-Lebanon border since 1978, but this has not stopped the wars of 1982, 2006 and 2024 and many border events.

However, the United Nations does claim peacekeeping operations, pointing to successful missions in places like Cambodia and Namibia. The troops stationed in allies have also successfully maintained peace: US forces South Korea It could prevent North Korean invasion, while those deployed in Germany during the Cold War helped prevent Soviet invasion of Western Europe.

Peacekeeping seems likely to be successful when peacekeepers have overwhelming power, or when warring parties decide to stop fighting themselves. Ukraine’s European peacekeeping forces may not enjoy it.

Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine and other publications. He holds a Master of Political Science from Roger University. Follow him twitter and LinkedIn

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