How did France and the world react to President Emmanuel Macron's statement on deploying Western troops to Ukraine?
Paris, France (Svidomi) — The President of France commented on the possibility of sending Western ground troops to Ukraine, Le Monde reports.
"Today, there is no consensus on the official, foreseeable and approved deployment of ground troops. But in the dynamics, nothing can be ruled out. We will do everything necessary to prevent Russia from winning this war,"
Emmanuel Macron said.
At the same time, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the party La France Insoumise (France Unbowed — ed.), called possible intervention in the war against Russia "madness", and Olivier Faure, first secretary of the Socialist Party, condemned "alarming presidential frivolity".
Answering questions from journalists, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte assured that sending ground troops was not on the agenda.
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, said in a commentary to AP that the Alliance has no plans to send its military to Ukraine, even though some European countries are considering doing so.
The Guardian reports that Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia have also said they are not ready to send their troops to Ukraine.
"I think that we should not speculate today whether there will be circumstances that could change this position,"
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
Germany and Hungary also spoke out against deploying foreign troops in Ukraine.
"What was agreed from the outset among ourselves and with each other also applies to the future, namely that there will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent there by European countries or NATO states," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.
The Swedish Prime Minister also ruled out the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine.
"President [US] Biden has been clear that the US will not send troops to fight in Ukraine," National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson commented on Macron's statements.
"The opening of a discussion on the possibility of direct support of Ukraine by armed forces should be seen as a desire to set the right accents, to highlight the risks more clearly,"
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak told Reuters.
The Kremlin also reacted to Macron's statement. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that if foreign troops are sent to Ukraine, "we need to talk not about probability, but about the inevitability of a direct conflict between Russia and NATO."
"The very fact of discussing the possibility of sending certain contingents to Ukraine from Nato countries is a very important new element. All the other elements have already been voiced in the French president's speeches, and we have already taken them all into account," Peskov told reporters.
