Western leaders hit out at Macron over sending troops to Ukraine

European and United States authorities countered French President Emmanuel Macron who, this Monday (26), raised the possibility of sending troops from Western countries to Ukraine. The statement was made after a meeting of 20 European leaders in Paris on the conflict.

After the meeting, Macron said that sending soldiers “cannot be ruled out”. The French president also stressed that “we are convinced that the defeat of Russia is necessary for security and stability in Europe”.

Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov reacted by saying that “in this case, we need to talk not about probability, but about inevitability”, in relation to a confrontation between the country and NATO. “This is how we will evaluate. And that is how these countries should evaluate and be aware of this. And ask yourself if this corresponds to your interests, and most importantly, the interests of the citizens of your countries”, he added.

Peskov also stressed that several countries participating in the Paris meeting maintain “a rather sober assessment of the potential dangers of such action and the potential danger of being directly involved in a conflict.”

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After Macron’s speech, US government officials told Reuters that neither the US nor the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have plans in this regard. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated that the alliance has no plans to send its military personnel to Ukraine.

Likewise, this type of support was denied by Germany, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Italy. “There will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent there by European countries or NATO states,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, highlighted that this type of initiative would lead to a “significant escalation of tensions” and that his government “will never agree to send Slovak troops to the war in Ukraine”.

With agencies

(PL)