This is how the West reacts: France withdraws after Macron’s announcement of ground troops

class=”sc-cffd1e67-0 iQNQmc”>

Not so long ago, French President Emmanuel Macron (46) boasted that he was the last head of state in the West to maintain contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin (71).

Macron is now among those showing the toughest stance towards Moscow in the war in Ukraine. “We will do whatever it takes to ensure that Russia cannot win this war,” Macron said at the Ukraine conference in Paris on Monday.

Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that the West will send ground troops to Ukraine to support them in the war. But Macron stands alone with his opinion. An overview.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz immediately made it clear: “There will be no ground troops from European states or NATO. That applies.”

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (63) also ruled out sending German soldiers to Ukraine. Macron is alone with his thoughts among his allies, he added.

Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said from the White House in Washington that US President Joe Biden (81) “has made it clear that the US will not send soldiers to combat operations in Ukraine.”

Biden is convinced that the “road to victory” for Ukraine is through the release of $60 billion in military aid, which has so far been blocked in Congress.

NATO said the defense alliance had “no plans” for “combat troops” in Ukraine, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, 64, said.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, 66, said his country has no plans to “send our troops to Ukraine, and that we have a common position with” the Czech Republic on this point.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (60) called the possible deployment of Western soldiers to Ukraine “not a problem” at the moment. The governments of Spain, Italy and Croatia were also clearly against sending ground troops to Ukraine.

Britain was more cautious: London has “no plans for a large-scale deployment” of soldiers in Ukraine. According to government information, there are already a small number of soldiers in Ukraine who, among other things, support the Ukrainian armed forces with medical training.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal (34) reiterated Macron’s position on Tuesday. “In a war you cannot rule anything out,” he told RTL.

However, French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné (38) tried to smooth things over. He explained that any possible deployment of Western ground forces in Ukraine would be limited to a few “special operations.” “We must consider new forms of support for Ukraine that respond to specific needs,” Séjourné told French parliamentarians on Tuesday. This included clearing mines, combating cyber attacks and weapons production in Ukraine.

“Some of these actions may require the presence (of Western soldiers) in Ukraine without crossing the threshold of war involvement,” he added. “Nothing can be ruled out,” he emphasized.

As expected, Macron’s statement was positively received in Kiev. Macron now shows a “deep understanding of the risks that the war in Ukraine poses for Europe,” Mychailo Podolyak (52), adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (46), told the AFP news agency. Until now this has been just a “discussion”, but it is now being taken to a new level.

Ahead of the debate, Russia warned of the “inevitability” of a confrontation between NATO and Russia if alliance forces were deployed in the war in Ukraine. Such a commitment is “absolutely not in the interests” of Western countries, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov (56). The discussion alone is a “very important new element” in the conflict. (AFP/jmh)

Source: Blick