Several member states of NATO and the European Union are considering the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine as part of bilateral agreements, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Monday, Reuters reports. He stated that Slovakia will not do this.

Fico, who has long opposed military supplies to Ukraine and takes a position that some critics consider pro-Russian, did not elaborate, and other European leaders did not immediately comment on the information presented by the Slovak prime minister.

He made these comments on the eve of a meeting of European leaders in Paris, which he is scheduled to attend on Monday.

“I will limit myself to saying that these theses (in preparation for the Paris meeting) mean that a number of NATO and EU member states are considering the possibility of sending their troops to Ukraine on a bilateral basis,” Fico said during a telebriefing. after the meeting of the Security Council of Slovakia.

“I cannot say for what purpose and what they should do there,” he said, adding that Slovakia, which is a member of the EU and the NATO military alliance, will not send troops to Ukraine.

Fico said he saw the risk of a significant escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and that no more information could be released.

Meeting in Paris

About 20 heads of state and government, most of them from the European Union, are meeting in Paris on Monday to reaffirm their unity and support for Ukraine, which is in a very difficult situation after two years of grueling war with Russia, AFP reports. .

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi will start the meeting in the Elysee Palace with a video conference.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will not be present, as the parliament in Budapest votes on Monday to ratify Sweden’s accession to NATO. Hungary and Slovakia are the most reluctant in the EU to Ukraine.

Representatives of the USA and Canada, as well as the head of British diplomacy, David Cameron, will also take part.

The goal is to “remobilize and explore all means for effective support of Ukraine,” the Elysée Palace said.

President Klaus Iohannis will participate in this working meeting on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and intensifying efforts to continue support given to Kyiv.

French President Emmanuel Macron has invited European leaders to the Elysee Palace for a brief working meeting amid what his advisers say is an escalation of Russian aggression in recent weeks.

Fico noted that the meeting showed that the West’s strategy towards Ukraine had failed. He said he would take part in a constructive spirit, although the supposed talks gave him “chills up his spine”.