Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said during a speech in the Polish parliament about the presence of some NATO military personnel on the territory of Ukraine. Italy said it did not approve of French and Polish statements regarding the inclusion in the Ukraine-Russia war.
The statement about the presence of some of the alliance’s countries came amid German Chancellor Olaf Scholz earlier hints in his statements on Taurus deliveries that British and French military were present in Ukraine:
“This is a very far-reaching weapon. And what the British and French are doing in terms of target control and support for target control cannot be done in Germany.”
Earlier, during a discussion marking the 25th anniversary of Poland’s accession to NATO in the Polish parliament, Sikorski said the following: “The presence of NATO forces in Ukraine is not unthinkable.” He especially emphasised that he appreciated Macron’s initiative “because it is about Putin being afraid, not us being afraid of Putin.”
By contrast, Italy is against the idea of deploying Western troops in Ukraine, as deploying troops on Ukrainian territory would mean a step towards worsening the situation, which would nullify the path to diplomacy, according to Italy’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto.
France and Poland can speak for themselves and not on behalf of NATO, which has officially and voluntarily stayed out of the war in Ukraine from the very beginning. Going to put troops into Kyiv is to take a step towards unilateral escalation, which would nullify the path of diplomacy. It is pointless to put forward such arguments now, after two years of war, Crosetto told La Stampa.
The defence minister also stressed that Russia’s transformation to a war economy makes it more equipped and flexible in military production than NATO:
The disproportion of forces on the ground is a pressing issue that I have always put and put on every table. So is the question of Russia’s transition to a war economy that makes it better equipped and more manoeuvrable than NATO in military production. The Ukrainians are right about sending arms. The West has found that it has much smaller production capacities than Russia, and it needs time to change the course.
