France intends to create an alliance of countries ready to send troops to Ukraine, Rolitico reported.
The coalition could potentially include the Baltic states. The foreign ministers of these states supported the idea at a meeting with their French counterpart. Poland may also support the initiative.
French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejournet paid a visit to Lithuania, where he met with his colleagues from the Baltic states and Ukraine. Diplomats discussed military aid to Kyiv, including the potential sending of Western military to Ukraine.
Sejourne said that Western countries will decide for themselves how to help Kyiv; Russia cannot “point” or “set red lines.” At the same time, he repeatedly mentioned the demining operation as a possibility for military deployment, noting that it “might mean some personnel, [but] not for combat operations”.
Sejourne also emphasized that Ukraine has now asked to send artillery ammunition, there has been no request for sending troops from Kyiv, but “we are not ruling anything out for the coming months.” He said, “Moscow is targeting the Baltic states, which used to be part of the Soviet empire but are now members of the EU and NATO”.
The Baltic foreign ministers thanked the French leadership for “thinking outside the box”, Politico reported. “There can be no buts. We must draw red lines for Russia, not for ourselves. We cannot rule out any form of support for Ukraine. We need to continue to support Ukraine where it is most needed”, said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis.
Also does not rule out sending its military to Ukraine and Poland, whose Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that he appreciates such an initiative, the publication writes. “The presence of NATO forces in Ukraine is not unthinkable”, he said. At the same time, Polish Defense Minister Vladyslav Kosiniak-Kamysh had previously said that “there will be no Polish troops in Ukraine”.
At the same time, tensions are growing between Paris and “more cautious” Berlin, Politico noted. At the same time, Germany remains the largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine in Europe.
The discussion of sending Western troops to Ukraine intensified after the statement of French President Emmanuel Macron, who did not rule out such a scenario, noting that there is no consensus on this issue yet.
