When Sir Keir Starmer announced that Britain would be prepared to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine if a deal to end the war was reached, one man wasn’t impressed.
Shaun Pinner, a former British soldier who fought on the frontlines with Ukraine’s military, has heard it all before. And he’s not buying it.
“I’m fed up with the soundbites,” he says. “Until we see some definitive action, it’s just water off a duck’s back.”
Pinner, 51, isn’t speaking from the sidelines. He lived through this war. Captured by Russian-backed forces in April 2022, he was tortured and sentenced to death before finally being released after five months in captivity. Before that, he fought for seven brutal weeks, first in frontline trenches, then in the savage house-to-house combat of Mariupol.
Now, as the war grinds on, he believes Western troops should have been on Ukrainian soil long ago.
“World War Two on Steroids”
For Pinner, the idea of a peacekeeping force only arriving after a deal is struck misses the point entirely.
“We should have had troops down to the Dnipro River 18 months ago,” he insists. “Europe has been so slow to act, it beggars belief.”
He argues that the West should have taken decisive steps the moment it became clear that Russia had the backing of Iran and North Korea. Instead, he sees delays, hesitation, and, now, cuts to vital aid.
Pinner, who now lives in Dnipro, just three hours from the frontline, has watched as American funding for humanitarian efforts has dried up. His wife and other aid workers have lost their jobs due to Washington’s cuts, which he blames in part on Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) dismantling USAid.
“It’s just another kick in the nuts for Ukraine,” he says.
And with Trump openly discussing potential deals with Putin, Pinner fears Europe could soon be left to fend for itself.
“Europe hasn’t risen to the situation either,” he adds. “It’s just as bad.”
Does Britain Have the Firepower?
Despite his frustration, Pinner acknowledges that even if the UK did commit to a full peacekeeping mission, it wouldn’t be able to act alone.
“I’ve just watched a half-a-million-strong army fight another half-a-million-strong army, and now they’re recruiting again. We wouldn’t last a month,” he says bluntly.
But he does believe British troops could gain valuable experience in Ukraine, especially given how modern warfare has evolved.
“This isn’t Afghanistan or Iraq,” he warns. “You’re not fighting in a green zone anymore. This is espionage, cyberspace, satellites. The drone advancements alone have changed everything in just two years.”
Pinner, now working with Prevail, a demining non-profit, spends his time sharing frontline insights with NATO military forces and SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) training programmes. He’ll also be speaking in London’s Trafalgar Square on 24 February, marking the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“If Putin Wins, Europe is Next”
For Pinner, this war is about more than Ukraine. It’s about the security of Europe itself.
“If Putin is successful in Ukraine, Russia, Iran, and North Korea will be a coalition just six hours from Germany,” he warns. “And they’ll forcibly conscript Ukrainian men to fight, doubling Europe’s problem.”
But the real danger? The weapons.
“If Russia wins, it gains access to all of Ukraine’s battlefield innovations, drones, sea-babies, ballistic missiles, rocket tech. And more importantly, Putin will move his nuclear arsenal closer to London, Berlin, and Paris, cutting reaction times for missile launches.”
For Pinner, this isn’t just a geopolitical debate. It’s a stark warning.
“If we don’t act, we’ll pay the price.”
