NATO has "no plans" to send combat troops to Ukraine, an Atlantic Alliance official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Tuesday, February 27, the day after NATO's declarations. French President, Emmanuel Macron. The Head of State assured, at the end of a conference in support of Ukraine, Monday February 26, that there was "no consensus today to send in an official, assertive and endorsed by ground troops.” “But nothing should be excluded,” he added.
“NATO and Allies are providing unprecedented military assistance to Ukraine. We have been doing this since 2014 and shifted gears after the Russian invasion, but there are no plans for NATO combat troops on the ground in Ukraine,” the NATO official said. NATO interviewed by AFP.
This vision is shared by the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz. “There will be no ground troops or soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent by European states or by NATO states,” he reacted, rejecting the French president’s project. “It is important to always ensure this,” he added during a visit to Fribourg, saying he believed that there was “very great unanimity on this issue” among the allied countries of the 'Ukraine.
The UK is also not planning a "large-scale deployment" of troops in addition to the "small number" of people already there in support of Kiev's army, Downing Street said in reaction to comments from Emmanuel Macron. A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said these “small numbers” were already there “to support the Ukrainian armed forces, particularly in medical training.”
Need for “unity” of Europeans
In Spain, the left-wing government "does not agree" with the idea of deploying European troops, said executive spokesperson Pilar Alegria on Tuesday. from the council of ministers. “We must focus on what is urgent, namely accelerating the delivery of military equipment” to Kiev, she added, emphasizing the need for European “unity”, “the most important weapon”. "Europe has" against Russia.
Italy, through its government, has made it known that Western aid to Ukraine “does not provide” for the deployment of European or NATO troops.
The presence of Western troops in Ukraine would not cross “the threshold of belligerence”, defended Stéphane Séjourné, head of French diplomacy, on Tuesday February 27, thus clarifying the polemical remarks of Emmanuel Macron. Faced with Russia's aggressiveness, the West should "consider new actions to support Ukraine," he noted, then he mentioned operations such as mine clearance and "the production of weapons on Ukrainian territory”. “Some might require a presence on Ukrainian territory without crossing the threshold of belligerence,” he said.
