ParisCNN –
French President Emmanuel Macron has spoken openly about the possibility of sending European troops to Ukraine to help Kiev win the war against Russia. This could lead to a possible major escalation of the largest ground war Europe has seen since World War II.
While the possibility of Western democracies gaining a foothold in Ukraine remains unlikely, Macron's comments after a summit in support of Ukraine triggered a hawkish response from the Kremlin and prompted European leaders to backtrack. A NATO official told CNN the alliance has “no plans” to station combat troops in Ukraine.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who attended the meeting in Paris on Monday, said that while there had been a good debate and extensive discussion on the issue, summit participants were “united” against deploying troops
Macron had told reporters at a news conference that while he and the other 21 European leaders present did not agree on the deployment of military personnel, the prospect had been openly discussed.
“Nothing should be ruled out,” he said. “We will do everything we can to prevent Russia from winning this war.”
However, numerous European officials spoke out against such a plan on Tuesday. Among them were some of Ukraine's most ardent supporters, including the United Kingdom, Poland, Spain and Italy, as well as officials from Hungary and Slovakia, two countries whose leaders have been criticized as pro-Russian.
“What was agreed between us and each other from the beginning also applies to the future, namely that there will be no ground troops on Ukrainian soil, no soldiers sent there by European countries or NATO states,” said Scholz.
However, Macron announced that a new coalition would be formed to supply Ukraine with medium and long-range missiles.
“We are at a critical moment in this conflict that requires us to take the initiative,” Macron said.
With Republicans in Congress withholding $60 billion in American funding for Ukraine, the burden has shifted to Europe to arm Ukraine in its attempts to fend off a resurgent Russian military.
Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines say they are already running out of ammunition, which has cost them on the battlefield. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a recent interview with CNN that “millions” could die if Washington doesn't provide more aid to his country.
The European Union has already pledged more than $150 billion in aid to Ukraine, but sending troops would be a drastic step that was unthinkable when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion two years ago.
Macron noted that Western democracies had gradually increased their support to levels that would have been unthinkable at the start of the war. He pointed to the example of Germany, which provided Kiev with helmets and sleeping bags at the start of the conflict and now says more needs to be done to supply the country with missiles and tanks.
“The people who said 'never' today were the same people who said never planes, never long-range missiles, never trucks. They said all this two years ago,” he said. “We have to be humble and recognize that we have always been six to eight months late.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that such an operation in Ukraine would bring the West into conflict with Moscow.
“In this case we need to talk not about the probability, but about the inevitability of a conflict,” Peskov said. “These countries also need to evaluate and be aware of this and ask themselves whether this is in their interest as well as in the interest of the citizens of their countries.”
Kremlin officials have made similar comments in the past. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last year that the US, UK and many others were “waging war” against Russia and conducting hostilities against the country by providing aid to Ukraine.
By hosting Monday's summit and committing to such a strong defense of Ukraine, Macron appears to be trying once again to assert himself as the symbolic leader of a united Europe as the continent prepares for the possibility that former U.S. President Donald Trump wins a second term.
Given Trump's antipathy to NATO and his transactional approach to alliances, leaders like Macron have stressed that Europe must bear the burden of protecting itself from future Russian aggression.
Macron warned at the start of the summit that Russia would likely attack beyond Ukraine in the coming years, endangering Europe's collective security.
“This is a European war,” said Macron. “It is our soil and our continent.”
Macron also signaled that he was ready to abandon his longstanding opposition to buying weapons for Ukraine from outside the EU. The French president opposed buying weapons outside the bloc to support an EU initiative called “strategic autonomy” – bureaucratic jargon for a range of measures aimed at making Europe less dependent on the US on foreign and defense issues and other international partners to make policy.
04:33 – Source: CNN
Why Ukraine's secret weapon is becoming increasingly difficult to use against Russia
While Macron's apparent move away from purchasing weapons outside the EU may seem at odds with Europe's quest for self-sufficiency, it is more a reflection of how badly Europe's arms stocks have been affected by the war in Ukraine.
A year ago, officials warned that supplies to Ukraine had left the country desperately short of a wide range of weapons.
The urgent need to do this as quickly as possible means that purchasing exclusively within the EU is simply not realistic. Region-wide cuts in defense spending after the end of the Cold War led to weapons manufacturers limiting their ability to produce such weapons, and rebuilding the industry will not happen overnight. That meant Europe not only had to “stock its own pantry, but also build a new pantry and fill that too,” a European official told CNN last week.
However, Macron's change of heart does not necessarily mean that he is moving away from strategic autonomy. It remains a long-term goal, but Kiev's rearmament is a short-term necessity.
It is also worth noting that there is no precise end point for strategic autonomy and many European officials have changed regarding the precise role of the US in European security and the extent to which NATO, rather than the EU, should be the mediator in this.
But by arranging the meeting at which this new short-term approach was agreed, Macron can still claim he is a leader in strengthening Europe's new, more assertive and independent foreign policy.
Nevertheless, Macron's comments proved controversial even within France. Several opposition MPs criticized Tuesday's comments, saying a French deployment would constitute belligerence, although Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu stressed that “to say we are not ruling anything out is neither weak nor escalatory.”
Meanwhile, both the US State Department and the Pentagon reiterated that President Joe Biden has ruled out sending US troops to fight in Ukraine.
“Of course, each country is free to represent its own interests, but in addition to the President's clarification that the US will not send troops to fight in Ukraine, the NATO Secretary General has ruled out any NATO troops to fight in Ukraine.” he told State Department spokesman Matthew Miller at a news conference.
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder added: “To be clear, we have no plans to send U.S. soldiers to fight in Ukraine.”
CNN's Anna Chernova, Chris Stern, Radina Gigova and Antonia Mortensen contributed to this report