French President Emmanuel Macron has raised the possibility of EU states sending troops to Ukraine to fight against Russia’s invasion, which recently entered its third year.
“There is no consensus at this stage ... to send troops on the ground,” Mr. Macron told reporters. “[But] Nothing should be excluded,” he added. “We will do everything that we must so that Russia does not win.”
Mr. Macron made the remarks at a Feb. 26 meeting of European leaders in Paris. The event was convened to reiterate the EU’s continued support for Ukraine, which has recently suffered a series of bruising battlefield losses.
Earlier this month, Russian forces captured the eastern town of Avdiivka, bringing Moscow one step closer to asserting control over the entire Donbas region.
Control of the Russian-speaking Donbas region has remained a key objective for Moscow since it launched its invasion of eastern Ukraine in early 2022.
Western officials have sought to blame the loss of Avdiivka (Avdeyevka in Russian) on what they see as waning U.S. support for Ukraine’s faltering war effort.
“When you don’t have the ammunition you need on the frontlines, you’re going to be vulnerable,” a U.S. State Department spokesman said last week.
“And that’s what we saw ... with the loss of Avdiivka,” he added.
Macron: Never Say Never
Some 20 EU leaders attended the Paris meeting convened by Mr. Macron to discuss ways to expedite munitions deliveries to Ukraine.Attendees included German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, UK Foreign Minister David Cameron, and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (who is tapped to become NATO’s next secretary-general), along with Scandinavian and Baltic leaders.
The United States was represented by Jim O'Brien, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs.
The meeting was also attended by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who, since taking office last year, has opposed unchecked Western military support for Kyiv. In televised comments made before the meeting, Mr. Fico said the hastily arranged meeting suggested that the West’s strategy vis-à-vis Ukraine had failed.
Speaking shortly before he left Paris, the Slovak leader appeared to confirm that at least some EU states “are prepared to send their own troops to Ukraine.”
“There are countries that say ‘never,’ including Slovakia, and there are countries that say the proposal should be considered,” he said.
This was borne out by public remarks made by Mr. Macron after the meeting.
“Those who say ‘never’ today are the same people who said ‘never tanks, never planes, never long-range missiles’ two years ago,” the French leader said.
“Everything is possible if it is useful to achieve our objective,” he added, stressing that Europe should avoid depending on U.S. support to defeat Russia’s invasion.
Mr. Macron later announced that several of Kyiv’s Western allies planned to establish a new “coalition” to provide Ukraine with long-range munitions.
According to Mr. Rutte, the Netherlands has earmarked 100 million euros (approx. $108.5 million) for the purchase of munitions for Kyiv.
“There was a great sense of urgency, particularly for the short term, on ammunition and air defense,” Mr. Rutte said after the meeting.
“I hope other countries will follow suit,” he added.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who also attended the meeting, said 15 countries had signed up to the initiative so far.
“We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of pieces of ammunition that we should—and could—get in a relatively short time,” Mr. Fiala told reporters.
Asked about Mr. Fico’s remarks, he said: “The Czech Republic certainly is not preparing to send any soldiers to Ukraine.”
“Nobody has to worry about that,” he added.
NATO Not ‘Party to Conflict’
In June of last year, former NATO chief Anders Rasmussen raised eyebrows when he said NATO members might—on an individual basis—send troops to Ukraine.“If NATO cannot agree on a clear path forward ... there is a clear possibility that some countries individually might take action,” he said in remarks to the UK press.
Since the conflict began, NATO-aligned states have provided Kyiv with billions of dollars in arms and equipment.
NATO leaders, however, have repeatedly stated that they hope to avoid direct confrontation with Russia, citing the potential for a global war.
“Neither NATO nor NATO allies are party to the conflict,” the alliance’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reiterated on Feb. 14.
Earlier this week, a White House official told Reuters that neither the United States nor NATO had plans to put boots on the ground in Ukraine.
Russia invaded Ukraine two years ago with the stated aim of protecting Russian speakers in Donbas and preempting NATO’s further eastward expansion.
Seven months later, Moscow unilaterally annexed Donetsk and Luhansk (which together comprise the Donbas region), along with Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Since then, it has regarded all four regions as Russian Federation territory.
Ukraine and its allies reject the annexations as illegitimate land grabs, and Kyiv has vowed to continue fighting until Russian forces are driven from all four regions.
