French President Emmanuel Macron appeared to have unsettled NATO allies after he said sending Western troops to Ukraine could not be ruled out, and a wave of member states said on Tuesday they had no intention of doing so.
Macron made the comments Monday night after a conference in Paris where European leaders discussed the outlook, according to information published a day ago by CNN.
“Tonight there was no agreement on the official sending of troops into combat operations, but we cannot rule anything out,” he told reporters. “We will do everything we can to prevent Russia from winning this war. And I say this firmly, but also with the collective humility that we should have in light of the last two years,” he also conveyed.
His comments came after Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, known for his pro-Russian stance, said earlier Monday that many NATO and European Union member states were considering sending troops to Ukraine as part of bilateral agreements.
“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 NATO, will not send troops to Ukraine.
A wave of denials regarding the introduction of troops into Ukraine
Asked about Macron’s comments on Tuesday, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk said their governments were not considering such an option.
“I am convinced that we should develop the areas of support that we opened after Russia’s aggression. I don’t think we should open other methods or ways,” said Fiala, who met Tusk in Prague on Tuesday, after which the two held a joint press conference after the meeting.
Tusk added that “Poland has no intention of introducing its troops into the territory of Ukraine.”
A White House official told Reuters that the US also has no plans to send troops to fight in Ukraine, and there are no such plans at the NATO level.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also ruled out that possibility, saying of Monday night’s meeting in Paris that “it was a very good debate, it was discussed what was agreed between us and others, namely that no troops would be landed, soldiers would go to Ukrainian land. European states or NATO”.
“Boots on the ground is not an option for the Federal Republic of Germany,” its Defense Minister Boris Pistorius also said, while Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck suggested France send more weapons than soldiers.
“I am glad that France is looking for ways to support Ukraine more strongly, but if I can make a proposal, they can send more weapons. Do what you can now and give Ukraine ammunition and tanks that can be sent now,” he urged, assuring that “German soldiers will not go to Ukraine.”
London reminds that it trains the Ukrainian military on British soil
The spokesman of the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunaka said that London also does not plan to send troops to Ukraine.
“Other than the small number of personnel we have in our country to support the armed forces of Ukraine, we have no plans for a large-scale deployment,” he said, referring to Britain training Ukrainian soldiers on its soil.
Spanish government spokeswoman Pilar AlegrÃa said her country did not agree with what she called Macron’s “proposal.”
“Unity was and remains Europe’s most effective weapon to counter Putin’s offensive” against Ukraine, she said.
Hungary, for its part, declared that it does not want to introduce troops into Ukraine.
“We see and hear the news about last evening’s meeting in Paris. Hungary’s position is clear and firm: we do not want to send either weapons or troops to Ukraine,” said Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Sijarto.
The Kremlin warned of an outbreak of conflict between NATO and Russia
The Kremlin warned on Tuesday that if European NATO members send troops to fight in Ukraine, a conflict between Russia and the North Atlantic alliance will become inevitable.
“The fact that the possibility of sending certain contingents from NATO countries to Ukraine is being discussed is a very important new element,” Kremlin press secretary Dmytro Peskov said.
Responding to journalists’ questions about the risks of a direct Russia-NATO conflict if NATO members send their troops to fight in Ukraine, Peskov said: “In this case, we should talk not about the probability, but about the inevitability (of direct conflict).
Ukraine, on the other hand, welcomed Macron’s words, but Kyiv also appeared to strike a low-key note on the prospect the French leader was referring to.
“This shows, first of all, the absolute awareness of the risks that a militaristic, aggressive Russia poses for Europe,” said the adviser to the president Mykhailo Podolyak.
“The beginning of the discussion about the possibility of direct support of Ukraine by the Armed Forces should be perceived as a desire to correctly place the emphasis, to highlight the risks more clearly,” he added.
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Source: Hot News
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