Sending NATO troops into Ukraine is being discussed openly causing Russia to warn that “a direct military conflict between NATO and Russia will be inevitable,” according to Breitbart News.
The discussion took place in Paris in an emergency meeting called by French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday.
Macron said that sending Western soldiers to Ukraine “could not be ruled out” and that “we must do whatever we can to obtain our objective.”
WWIII Watch: Macron Floats Troops in Ukraine for First Time, Moscow Warns of ‘Inevitable’ War with NATOhttps://t.co/NjQbqHsN1Q
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 27, 2024
He also said there was “no consensus” on the sending of European ground troops to Ukraine in a news conference. He then added a cryptic, “nothing should be excluded to achieve our objective. Russia cannot win that war.”
There was, however, a “broad consensus to do more and quicker” for Ukraine, according to Macron. Participants in the meeting agreed to supply Ukraine with medium and long-range missiles and bombs to hold the Russians at bay.
Russia did not take the news lightly. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “The very fact of discussing the possibility of sending certain contingents to Ukraine from NATO countries is a very important new element.”
“We would need to talk not about the probability, but about the inevitability [of a direct conflict between Russia and NATO],” Peskov said.
Several NATO members were quick to reject the notion of sending troops into Ukraine.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told journalists, “What was agreed from the beginning among ourselves and with each other also applies to the future, namely that there will be no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent there by European states or NATO states.”
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Polish PM Donald Tusk said their governments were not contemplating such a move.
“I am convinced that we should develop the paths of support that we embarked on after Russia’s aggression,” Fiala said. “I believe we don’t need to open some other methods or ways.”
Tusk said, “Poland does not plan to send its troops to the territory of Ukraine.”
Sweden — the newest NATO member — took the position that France deciding to get involved in a foreign war doesn’t force other NATO members to follow. NATO is a purely defensive alliance.
“There are not any requests from Ukraine’s side either for that. That question is not relevant,” Swedish PM Kristersson said.
“It is not relevant at all right now. There is no discussion like that ongoing in Sweden. We are participating by sending resources, materials, and money to Ukraine and that is appreciated very much.”
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told the Associated Press, “NATO allies are providing unprecedented support to Ukraine. We have done that since 2014 and stepped up after the full-scale invasion. But there are no plans for NATO combat troops on the ground in Ukraine.”
The Paris gathering was also attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who addressed the summit by video link.
Zelenskyy called on European leaders to make sure Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot destroy our achievements and cannot expand his aggression to other nations.” He stopped short of calling for NATO troops to be deployed in Ukraine, but it is unclear if he would reject such a proposal.
Bottom line: Discord and mixed messages in NATO play into Putin’s hands as Russia continues its long and bloody slog into Ukraine.
