France’s President Emmanuel Macron has stated that he will not rule out the use of Western troops to halt the Russian invasion of Ukraine, though other members of NATO expressed no interest in such a scenario.
Still, the introduction of the concept might be intended to either prepare the ground politically for such a move or to test the waters to see how the public reacts to such a scenario.
Macron says Western troops on ground in Ukraine not ‘ruled out’ – National – globalnews.ca
Excerpt:
French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that sending Western troops on the ground in Ukraine is not “ruled out” in the future after the issue was debated at a gathering of European leaders in Paris, as Russia’s full-scale invasion grinds into a third year.
The French leader said that “we will do everything needed so Russia cannot win the war” after the meeting of over 20 European heads of state and government and other Western officials.
“There’s no consensus today to send in an official, endorsed manner troops on the ground. But in terms of dynamics, nothing can be ruled out,” Macron said in a news conference at the Elysee presidential palace.
Macron declined to provide details about which nations were considering sending troops, saying he prefers to maintain some “strategic ambiguity.”
Excerpt:
There are no plans for Western boots on the ground, multiple leaders have insisted
The UK, Poland, Czech Republic, Finland, and Sweden all spoke up on Tuesday against French President Emmanuel Macron’s suggestion that Western troops could be deployed to Ukraine.
While there was no consensus about sending ground forces, Macron said on Monday following a pro-Ukraine summit in Paris that “in terms of dynamics, we cannot exclude anything” in the conflict between Moscow and Kiev.
There are “no plans for NATO combat troops on the ground in Ukraine,” the secretary-general of the US-led bloc, Jens Stoltenberg, told AP in response to Macron’s remarks.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak did not rule out sending troops in principle, but his spokesperson told reporters that “beyond the small number of personnel in [the] country supporting the armed forces [of Ukraine], we do not have any plans to make a large-scale deployment.”
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Paul Collier
Paul Collier is the editor of The Freedomist newsite, our Weekday Reports, and our Monthly Publication, Freedomist Intelligence Advisor (previously McAlvany Intelligence Advisor). He has been involved in news publishing since 2003.
