Iro Särkkä, PhD researcher at the Institute for Foreign Policy, says that France has previously lagged behind in defending Ukraine.
France wants to take an even more active role in supporting Ukraine, says a senior researcher at the Foreign Policy Institute Iro Sarkkä In ‘s morning interview.
President of France Emmanuel Macron hosted a meeting in Paris where 20 European countries, the United States and Canada decided to strengthen their support for Ukraine.
On behalf of France, Macron promised a plan for the delivery of medium- and long-range missiles and ammunition to Ukraine within ten days.
The meeting also brought up the idea of sending ground troops from Western countries to Ukraine. Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico said on Monday that several EU and NATO member states are considering sending troops.
Macron did not rule out this possibility.
– I would draw attention to the fact that France is the active player who wants to promote this issue and be the moderator of the discussion, Särkkä states.
– However, it has taken a back seat in supporting Ukraine in the last couple of years.
No troops for battles
If individual NATO countries were to send troops to Ukraine, it would be a big decision, Särkkä estimates.
The troops would hardly participate in the fighting.
– It is unlikely that those troops would be leaving for any battle line. We can perhaps be there in some kind of support role, even if providing logistical support further away from the actual war zones, says Särkkä.
NATO countries would probably send troops independently, under no circumstances under the NATO flag, Särkkä points out.
– Then NATO would become a direct party to this conflict, and we wanted to avoid that by all means.
Iro Särkkä and the former commander of the defense forces, general evp. and MP Jarmo Lindberg (co.) discussed supporting Ukraine and Sweden’s NATO membership in ‘s morning. You can watch the entire conversation below.