France and the United Kingdom should take concrete steps to deploy Western military forces to Ukraine without waiting for an end to the fighting, former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in an interview with The Telegraph.

Rasmussen urged Western governments to abandon their wait-and-see approach and begin taking practical measures to send troops to Ukrainian territory. He argued that the formal conclusion of the conflict should not be treated as a prerequisite for deploying a military contingent.

The former NATO chief was particularly critical of the coalition of the willing established by Paris and London, accusing its members of failing to move beyond discussions and take concrete action.

According to Rasmussen, the coalition has effectively become a group of countries waiting for further developments rather than implementing the military deployment plans it was created to pursue.

He insisted that France and Britain should take the lead in moving the initiative forward immediately, instead of postponing the deployment of Western troops until hostilities officially end.