President of France Emmanuel Macron said on Monday evening that the sending of Western troops to Ukraine cannot be ruled out in the future. According to him, there is no consensus on the issue at this stage.
– We discussed everything freely and directly today. Today, there was no consensus to send troops to the country officially, Macron said. However, according to him, nothing should be ruled out.
– We will do everything we can so that Russia does not win this war, Macron said.
He commented on the issue at a meeting hosted in Paris, where 20 European countries, the United States and Canada decided to strengthen their support for Ukraine.
Macron pointed out that he has never said that France would not support sending troops. He did not agree to comment on which countries would consider sending troops. Macron justified his rise by the fact that the West has often been half a year or a year late in supporting Ukraine.
France has not previously publicly spoken about sending troops to Ukraine.
Macron said to the French Broadcasting Corporation that the goal of the discussion was to show that everything is possible if it is used to achieve the goal.
– Many of those who say “never†were the same ones who said two years ago, never tanks, fighter jets and long-range missiles, Macron said According to the French Broadcasting Corporation.
Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico claimed on Monday that several EU and NATO member states are considering sending soldiers to Ukraine. He emphasized that Slovakia would not participate in this.
– I can’t say what for or what they would do there, Fico told the online magazine According to Politico.
Also the prime minister Petr Fiala commented on this, saying that the Czech Republic is not preparing to send soldiers to Ukraine.
†The troops would hardly take part in the fightingâ€
Senior researcher at the Foreign Policy Institute Iro Särkä assessed in ‘s morning interview that if individual NATO countries were to send troops to Ukraine, it would be a big decision. The troops would hardly participate in the fighting.
– It is unlikely that those troops would be going to any battle line. They may be there on some kind of support mission, even if they are providing logistical support further away from the actual war zones, says Särkkä.
NATO countries would probably send troops independently, and not in any name under the NATO flag, Särkä points out.
– Then NATO would become a direct party to this conflict, and that has been avoided by all means.
Sources: Reuters, AP, STT-AFP