Berlin holds off decision on participation in postwar Ukraine force

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany is ready to step up funding for and training of Ukrainian forces but will decide on further military commitments only after broader conditions are clarified, a government spokesperson said on Thursday.

The statement came after a meeting of Ukraine's allies, where 26 nations signalled they were are ready to take part in an international force as part of security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a peace deal with Russia, French President Emmanuel Macron said.

"Germany will decide on a military engagement in due course when the framework is clear," the German spokesman said. "This refers to the kind and extent of a U.S. engagement as well as the result of a negotiation process, amongst other factors."

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has signalled openness to German participation in a potential peacekeeping mission in Ukraine but has shown more caution than Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer who have backed the idea of troop deployments.

Merz has also noted that any German deployment would likely require a Bundestag mandate, a challenge for a chancellor whose own appointment was only voted through on the second attempt.

Russia is fiercely opposed to any troops from the NATO alliance being deployed and it is far from clear how such a force could work.

Following the talks on Thursday, a government source told Reuters that Berlin had held out the prospect of significantly ramping up Ukraine's air defences, and equipping four Ukrainian mechanized infantry brigades, a commitment amounting to almost 500 vehicles per year.

The source added that there were discussions on how to support Ukraine on a larger scale after a peace deal but this topic had not been the subject of the Paris talks, convened by France and Britain, on a peace force for Ukraine.

(Writing by Sabine Siebold, Rachel More and Andreas RinkeEditing by Madeline Chambers and Andrew Heavens)