- By Lipika Pelham and Lou Newton
- BBC News
February 27, 2024
Updated 8 hours ago
Image source: Getty Images
Several NATO countries, including the US, Germany and the UK, have ruled out sending ground troops to Ukraine after French President Emmanuel Macron said “nothing should be ruled out”.
Mr Macron said there was “no consensus” on sending Western soldiers to Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned of a direct conflict if NATO troops were deployed there.
Russian forces have recently made progress in Ukraine and Kiev has urgently demanded more weapons.
Mr Macron said at a press conference on Monday evening: “We should not rule out that there may be a security need which then justifies some elements of the operation.”
“But I told you very clearly what France represents as its position, which is a strategic ambiguity that I stand by.”
The French head of state gave a speech in Paris, where a crisis meeting in support of Ukraine is taking place, attended by heads of European states as well as the USA and Canada.
The full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin is now in its third year, and there are no signs that the biggest war in Europe since World War II is about to end.
Mr Macron's comments prompted reactions from other European and NATO member countries.
US President Joe Biden believes the “path to victory” is to provide military assistance “so that Ukrainian troops have the weapons and ammunition they need for self-defense,” a White House statement said.
“President Biden has made it clear that the United States will not send troops to fight in Ukraine,” it said.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said nothing had changed in the agreed position that no European country or NATO member country would send troops to Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesman said the country had no plans for a large-scale military operation in Ukraine, beyond the small number of personnel already training Ukrainian forces.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office said that Italy's support “does not include the presence of troops of European or NATO countries on Ukrainian territory.”
Mr. Peskov, speaking on behalf of the Kremlin, called Mr. Macron's proposal “a very important new element,” adding that it was absolutely not in the interests of NATO members.
“In this case we would have to talk not about probability but about inevitability [of direct conflict],” he said.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg previously declined to consider sending troops to Ukraine but insisted the alliance would continue to support Ukraine, which is not a NATO member.
This position was shared by a number of NATO member states, including Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic.
Russia has plenty of artillery and is a far larger military power than Ukraine, whose troops rely critically on the supply of modern weapons from Western allies, particularly the United States.
On Tuesday, Mr Biden urged congressional leaders at a meeting in the Oval Office to approve the $95 billion (75 billion pounds; 69 billion euros) US aid package, including $60 billion for Ukraine.
The package faces an uphill battle in the U.S. House of Representatives. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson stood firm at the meeting and initially insisted on further border reforms.
Mr Johnson has said the crisis at the Mexico-US border is his priority, and Mr Biden had already offered to include the reforms in the package – but Republicans are holding out.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said it was the “most intense” Oval Office meeting he had ever attended.
The US is by far the largest donor of military aid to Ukraine, having pledged 42.2 billion euros (36 billion pounds; $45 billion) as of January 15, data from the Kiel Institute showed.
Germany is in second place with commitments of €17.7 billion over the same period, followed by the United Kingdom, which provided €9.1 billion in military aid.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who attended the meeting in Paris via video link on Monday, said that “everything we do together to defend ourselves against Russian aggression will provide our nations with real security for decades to come.”