The President of France, Emmanuel Macron said in a conference this Monday the 26th of February that “nothing should be excluded” on deploying ground troops to Ukraine.
However his Nato allies such as the UK, US, and Germany have ruled out any possibility of this happening, leading to Macron stating that there is “no consensus” on sending Western soldiers to Ukraine.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin warned the West that they would enter a direct conflict with Russia if Nato troops are sent to Ukraine.
In the same news conference on Monday, Macron further stated that “We should not exclude that there might be a need for security that then justifies some elements of deployment”.
This comes after recent months of gains by Russian forces in Ukraine, with Kyiv desperately asking the West for further weapons and aid.
Macron continued saying to reporters that “I’ve told you very clearly what France maintains as its position, which is a strategic ambiguity that I stand by."
These comments were made in Paris during a crisis meeting set up to support Ukraine, with leaders of other European nations attending, as well as Canada and the US.
These statements made by Macron resulted in other nation leaders also chiming in but with slightly different sentiments.
Olaf Scholz, the Chancellor for Germany said that no alterations have been made and that no troops would be sent to Ukraine from Nato members or other European states.
A spokesman for UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that London has no plans to send a large amount of troops to help Ukraine in the war, other than the handful already sent who are currently training the Ukrainian army.
US President Joe Biden said in a statement that Washington's aim still remains the same, and that the “path to victory” lies in giving both economic and military aid “so Ukrainian troops have the weapons and ammunition they need to defend themselves”.
A spokesperson for the Whitehouse also added that “President Biden has been clear that the US will not send troops to fight in Ukraine”.
Georgie Meloni, the Italian Prime Minister echoed those sentiments stating that Italy’s “support does not include the presence of troops from European or Nato states on Ukrainian territory”.
Unsurprisingly there was pushback from Russia concerning the comments made by Macron, as Putin's press secretary Mr Peskov stated that these statements are “a very important new element”, and that “in that case, we would need to talk not about the probability, but about the inevitability [of direct conflict].”
When questioned about the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine, Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general, denied the possibility insisting but did say that Nato would continue to support Ukraine regardless of whether it was a member or not.
This view has been supported by numerous other Nato members such as the Czech Republic, Poland and Spain.
As the war in Ukraine drags on, Kyiv is becoming more and more desperate for Western weaponry, especially from the US to be able to continue fighting Russia who have a far larger military arsenal.
However this much needed aid is currently seemingly deadlocked as a $95 billion US aid package, including $61 billion just for Ukraine, is facing a lot of resistance in the US House of Representatives.
Volodymyr Zelensky, President for Ukraine was able to take part in Monday's meeting in Paris via a video call, and said that "everything we do together to defend against Russian aggression adds real security to our nations for decades to come''.
Edited by Chloe Mansola
Image “Members debated the French Presidency’s priorities with Emmanuel Macron” by EP is licenced under CC BY 4.0 DEED
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