Skopje Defense Minister: No North Macedonia’s Soldier Will Be Deployed in Ukraine

Skopje (BETAPHOTO/SVETLANA DOJCINOVIC/DS)

North Macedonian Defense Minister Vlado Misajlovski on March 12 said that no soldier from his country would be deployed in Ukraine, adding that no one had requested so.

“No such request has arrived. Is it being considered? Yes, it is being considered and countries have different views on this matter. Will Macedonian soldiers be deployed in Ukraine? No, they will not!,” Misaljovski told reporters.

He made the statement while visiting members of the First Infantry Battalion of the Army of North Macedonia in army barracks Čede Filipovski – Dame in Kicevo. When  asked by reporters whether deployment of “peacekeepers” in “the buffer zone” in Ukraine had been mentioned in talks in NATO or the EU, he answered that it was “first necessary to establish peace, and then Ukraine will need also additional help,” stressing that “we stand 100 percent behind a solution for peace.”

Misajlovski confirmed that the chief-of-staff of the Army of North Macedonia, Lt. General Sasko Lafciski, had attended the March 11 meeting of the Paris Defense and Strategy Forum, organized by the chiefs-of-staff of France and Great Britain. The minister said that the meeting had seen “countries presenting different stands, some new steps are being considered and also plans on how to achieve pace and how we shall act.”