Swiss could contribute to peacekeeping in Ukraine, army chief says

PHOTO CAPTION: Swiss army soldiers take part in a live fire exercise during the LUX 23 exercise in Les Pradieres, Switzerland May 4, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

ZURICH (Reuters) -     Switzerland could contribute troops to a future peacekeeping mission in Ukraine if it were requested and the government agreed, Swiss armed forces chief Thomas Suessli said in an interview published on Sunday.

"We could probably field around 200 soldiers in nine to 12 months," Suessli told newspaper SonntagsBlick, stressing that it would be a matter for the government and parliament to decide if any appeal were made to Switzerland.

Talk of sending peacekeepers was purely hypothetical for now because it remained unclear how the situation between Russia and Ukraine would develop, Suessli added.

"There's no peace yet, and there's been no request from the United Nations," he said.

Neutral Switzerland participates in several peacekeeping missions around the world, with the largest in Kosovo, where it has soldiers deployed in support of NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR).

European powers have discussed the possibility of sending peacekeepers to Ukraine amid diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the conflict, three years after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

 (Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Helen Popper)