Macron was right when he floated the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine, Finland's minister of foreign affairs has said
Helsinki, Finland (Svidomi) — Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said in an interview with the Financial Times that French President Emmanuel Macron was right when he spoke about the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine.
"Now’s not the time to send boots on the ground, and we are not even willing to discuss it at this stage. But for the long term, of course we shouldn’t be ruling anything out," Valtonen said.
In February 2024, after the summit of the leaders of 25 European countries, the United States and Canada, Macron said that he did not rule out the deployment of ground troops, including French troops, in Ukraine.
Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom immediately ruled out the deployment of troops, denying Macron's statement. Read more about the reactions to Macron's statements on our website.
Finland's Minister Valtonen added that it was not a mistake to keep Russia guessing what Ukraine's supporters would be willing to do.
"Why would we, especially not knowing where this war will go and what happens in the future, disclose all our cards? I really wouldn’t know," the official added in an interview with the FT.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė also supported the French president's statements.
"What I liked about two recent announcements of President Macron is that he said that actually why should we impose ourselves red lines when Putin basically has no red lines?" said Šimonytė.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna added that Macron's statements "woken up a bit the leaders of Europe — instead of putting boots on the ground, it is safer to send weapons and money" to Ukraine.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has led calls for the EU to issue joint debt for defence. Finland also supported this idea. According to Elina Valtonen, they "don't have anything against it".
It will be recalled that Elina Valtonen said that Western countries, including the United States, should not be completely against the idea of sending troops to Ukraine if the situation there deteriorates.
