Britain will send forces to the country if it is certain they would be safe, Richard Knighton has said

Britain's chief of defense staff has said he is "confident" UK troops would be safe if deployed to Ukraine under a ceasefire with Russia, despite Moscow's warnings that any Western forces in the country would be considered "legitimate targets." 

Speaking at a parliamentary defense committee hearing on Monday, Air Chief Marshal Richard Knighton stressed that the UK "won't deploy our armed forces [to Ukraine] if we're not happy that they're going to be safe."

Asked whether UK forces would have sufficient equipment, training, and rotations, Knighton said he was "confident" troops would be deployed in a manner "to ensure that they are safe." At the same time, he acknowledged that "there is no such thing as zero risk in operational environments."

"The job of the military leadership... is to judge that level of risk and make sure that the benefits that we get from deployment outweigh any risks that we might have," Knighton said, claiming that additional funding would reduce the risk.

Kiev's European backers, led by the UK and France, have long mulled plans to put troops on the ground in Ukraine after a potential ceasefire with Russia. This month, British, French, and Ukrainian leaders signed a 'Declaration of Intent' on a troop deployment.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the plan would include "military hubs" and protected facilities for weapons and equipment, while French President Emmanuel Macron suggested the mission could involve "potentially thousands" of troops being deployed "a long way behind the contact line." According to Le Monde, however, Macron has faced significant pushback from parliamentary opposition, which insisted that any deployment must be UN-mandated.

Russia has ruled out any Western troop deployment in Ukraine, warning that foreign units would be treated as "legitimate targets" and that plans by Kiev's backers would amount to outside intervention. Moscow has repeatedly said one of its core aims in the conflict is to prevent NATO troops and infrastructure from taking root in the neighboring country.