The Prime Minister says he is “open” to New Zealand providing peacekeepers in Ukraine if a ceasefire is reached.
Luxon’s comments come as top US and Russian officials plan to meet in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to discuss an end to the war – without Kyiv’s involvement – and European leaders held a crisis meeting in the wake of the US President Donald Trump’s overtures to Russia.
Asked whether New Zealand would be prepared to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine in the event of any ceasefire, Christopher Luxon told RNZ that was something he would consider.
“I think that is something that would be open to, but obviously it’s speculative at this point, but we do support a lot of peacekeeping missions around the world, if this is something that I think we would be open to talking [and] working through,” he said.
“We have New Zealanders in really difficult, challenging parts of the world, and we have for many decades actually serving in peacekeeping missions all around the world.”
He added that he was “proud” of the current commitment from New Zealand to Ukraine, with personnel deployed in Europe as part of Operation Tīeke, contributing to international efforts to assist Ukraine in its self-defence following Russia’s invasion.
“We’re a long way away from this theatre of war. But for me, this is a values thing,” Luxon said. “This is a small sovereign nation state that has been hit by an illegal war from a very big power and that’s unacceptable.”
There has been anger in Europe at the prospect of the US and Russia deciding on Ukraine’s future, although a US State Department spokesperson has now said any actual peace negotiations would only take place with Ukraine’s involvement.
“So you know, it’s good that there’s negotiations going on because it’s caused huge amounts of suffering, but we need Ukraine on its negotiations,” Luxon told RNZ.
“We have a long tradition of peacekeeping troops throughout the Middle East and different places, and our troops are fantastic. Our defence forces are excellent, they’re well respected, well regarded. They go into difficult situations that are the reality of their job.”
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said he agreed that New Zealand should be open to sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine if asked.
“If there is a way to achieve peace that New Zealand can play a constructive role in helping to deliver, we should be open to do so.”
Labour would be “broadly supportive” of New Zealand involvement in peacekeeping in Ukraine, he said.
“I think we would need to know what the ask is of us before we made a final decision on that. Let’s be open to having the conversation about how New Zealand could most usefully contribute to an international effort to bring peace in that area.”
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, New Zealand has contributed troops and personnel to UN peacekeeping operations since they began in 1948, and has been involved in more than 40 peace operations over that time.
It said New Zealand had played a role in some of the UN’s most challenging missions including those in Africa and the Middle East, and provided sustained contributions to other UN peace support operations.
Luxon talks defence spending
Asked if he would consider increasing spending on defence, Luxon said: “We will be spending more on defence as well. We will be getting as close to 2% as we possibly can.”
New Zealand currently spends just over 1% of GDP on defence.
“We will continue to increase spending on defence because we need to back up our values with action and we need to make clear our part. But equally when we do, as a small country, it’s very important that we’re very choiceful about where we’re going to build that capability.”
Asked how quickly NZ could reach that 2% mark, Luxon said it would be revealed in due course “when we reveal our defence capability plan”.
“We’re working that through with our defence capability plan, but that is the point of that plan is to say ‘I want a plan for the next 15 years with new leadership and our military that gives us certainty and clarity about the capability we want to build in our Defence Force’.”
Hipkins said when asked about the 2% target that the National Party “always talks a big game on defence”.
“If you look at the big procurement decisions made in defence over the last 20 or 30 years, it’s been under Labour governments. So the replacement of the Air Force’s fleet of Orion that was a Labour government, the replacement of the Hercules fleet, that was a Labour government, the purchase of new naval vessels like the Manawanui, that was a Labour government, they talk a big game. They don’t ever deliver.”
He said the international discussion about aiming for 2% of GDP was an “arbitrary target”.
“The question that New Zealanders should be asking, and that the New Zealand government should be asking, is, what’s the capability that we need in our defence force? And that will cost as much as it costs.
“We’ve got big decisions about what kind of naval fleet we actually need for New Zealand’s interests. We don’t have ice breaking capability in our naval fleet at the moment, and yet, the Southern Ocean is right on our doorstep. These are the sorts of conversations we should have.”
