French President Emmanuel Macron has said that sending Western ground troops to Ukraine “cannot be ruled out” as European allies announced new measures to deliver ammunition and support to Kyiv.
Macron invited his European counterparts to the Elysee Palace for a hastily organised meeting to discuss how to increase ammunition deliveries to Ukraine in the background.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who opposes military aid to Ukraine, said several NATO and EU members are considering sending soldiers to Ukraine on a bilateral basis. He said before boarding his plane home:
I can confirm there are countries that are prepared to send their own troops to Ukraine, there are countries that say never, among which Slovakia belongs, and there are countries that say this proposal needs to be considered.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, a contender to be NATO’s next secretary-general, told reporters that the issue of sending troops was not at the centre of yesterday’s talks.
Macron also said:
Many people who say “Never, never today were the same people who said ‘never tanks, never planes, never long-range missiles” two years ago. Let us have the humility to note that we have often been six to twelve months late. This was the objective of this evening’s discussion: everything is possible if it is useful to achieve our objective.
Progress was made on the Czech initiative to purchase hundreds of thousands of munitions from third countries, which France was cautious about, as its priority is to develop its own European industry.
Ammunition supply has become a critical issue for Kyiv. However, the European Union is not meeting its target of sending Ukraine one million artillery shells by March.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said about 15 countries have agreed to sign up to his initiative. Macron said Paris would also do so, and that a coalition to speed up delivery of long-range missiles had also been agreed.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and leaders of Scandinavian and Baltic countries also attended the meeting.
The United States, which is under intense scrutiny as its latest military aid package to Ukraine stalled in Congress, was represented by Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Jim O’Brien. A White House official told Reuters that the United States had no plans to send troops to Ukraine, nor did it plan to send NATO troops to fight in Ukraine.
