The US threatened Russia with “the toughest” sanctions, while Macron announced that France had exhausted its arms supplies to Ukraine on Wednesday.
France has no more arms to send for Ukraine
Over the past day, two significant statements were made that could change the tone of the entire EU-US agenda on the Ukrainian conflict. Both came from French President Emmanuel Macron.
Macron said on TF1 television that France had transferred almost all available military aid resources to Ukraine and was unable to increase supplies further.
“We even produced much more and much faster — that’s the military economy. But you can’t give away what you don’t have. We also cannot deprive ourselves of what is necessary for our own security,” Macron emphasised, commenting on the current situation with support for Kyiv.
The statement sparked heated debate, as France had previously positioned itself as one of Ukraine’s key allies in Europe.
Since the start of the military conflict in February 2022, France has provided Kyiv with significant military aid. According to the French Ministry of Defence, between February 2022 and December 2023, Paris supplied Ukraine with military equipment worth €2.615 billion and allocated €1.2 billion through the European Peace Fund, for a total of more than €3.8 billion.
The list of deliveries includes 30 Caesar howitzers, 38 AMX-10 RC wheeled tanks, 250 armoured personnel carriers, 1,002 AT4 anti-tank grenade launchers, 30,000 155-mm shells and 160 reconnaissance drones. In addition, about 10,000 Ukrainian military personnel have been trained in France and Poland with Paris’ support.
NATO troops in Ukraine
In a recent statement, Emmanuel Macron also voiced another thought-provoking idea: since Ukraine will never become part of NATO, the Alliance should establish a physical presence on its territory.
Meanwhile, US Special Representative for Ukraine Keith Kellogg said in an interview with Fox News that the US is discussing the deployment of European peacekeepers in Ukraine west of the Dnipro River after the conflict ends.
According to him, the mission could involve troops from France, Germany, the UK and Poland.
“We are talking about a resilience force… [This includes] the Brits, the French, as well as the Germans, and now actually the Poles, have a force west of the Dnipro River, which means it’s out of contact range [with Russia],” Kellogg said.
In March, French President Emmanuel Macron said during a press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky that US and EU countries were ready to send peacekeeping forces to Ukraine. Their task would be to ensure security and respond to possible attacks. However, these forces would not be deployed on the front line.
Macron has been working on the idea of sending peacekeepers together with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for several months. Despite the creation of a “coalition of the willing” Macron and Starmer have faced reluctance from other European countries to deploy troops there without guarantees of support from the US.
Under the previous government, Berlin had allowed for its participation in the initiative. Friedrich Merz said that Germany should participate in a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine in accordance with international law and, if possible, on the basis of consensus with Russia. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, for his part, ruled out the participation of peacekeepers from his country in the mission.
Fresh toughest sanctions against Russia
New US sanctions against Russia in the absence of progress on Ukraine could be tougher than those already imposed, Kellogg also said.
“These could be significant sanctions… These sanctions are very serious. They are tougher than we have ever seen,” the special envoy said in response to a question about Washington’s likely actions in the absence of progress in resolving the conflict in Ukraine.
In particular, Kellogg clarified that this refers to sanctions against the Bank of Russia and Russian oil transport companies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed that Ukraine resume direct talks in Istanbul on May 15, saying that the goal is to “eliminate the root causes of the conflict.” The Kremlin has promised to send a delegation, whose members have not yet been announced. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said that he will “personally” wait for Putin in Istanbul.
