A photo of a television screen shows French President Emmanuel Macron during a televised address to the nation he gave at the Elysee Palace after signing a pension reform in Paris on April 17, 2023.
Ludovic Marin | AFP | Getty Images
French President Emmanuel Macron has reiterated the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine, a day before a key summit with Germany, which strongly rejects the idea.
“We cannot rule out options,” Macron said in a joint interview with TF1 and France 2 TV on Thursday, when asked to revisit controversial comments from late February. At the time, the French leader refused to rule out the possible deployment of Western troops on Ukrainian territory – prompting scorn from Russia and a backlash from Macron’s NATO allies.
“What we are doing is setting red lines for ourselves,” the French president continued in comments translated by CNBC on Thursday, noting that the international community has “placed too many limits on our vocabulary” regarding the war .
“If today we decide to be weak, if we decide to be weak in the face of someone who has no limits, who has exceeded all the limits we have set for him, if we naively say to him: ‘I will not go further than this or that. ‘ At this moment we are not deciding on peace, but on defeat.”
The French leader declined to elaborate on how he envisions a possible deployment of troops in Ukraine, instead emphasizing that “the security of Europe and the security of the French people are at stake here.”
Responding to the comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “France is already involved in the conflict in Ukraine and is not averse to increasing its involvement,” according to a Google-translated remark carried by the Russian state news agency Tass.
Macron’s latest comments once again risk pitting him against NATO allies, who in February distanced themselves from the possibility of their own national military operation in Ukraine.
The alliance’s members are each under pressure to increase their defense spending to a previously agreed target of 2% of their national GDP. According to the latest forecasts, two-thirds of members will achieve this goal this year.
“We have the ability to give Ukraine what it needs. Now we have to show the political will to do this,” emphasized NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a press conference.
Until now, NATO members’ contributions have been used to supply ammunition, military equipment and maintenance to Ukraine rather than sending troops into Ukrainian territory – a move that would bring the alliance closer to war with Russia. So far, foreign volunteers have assisted both Russia and Ukraine in the war, but not as part of a formal military operation.
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Macron is meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Friday for talks that many hope could calm simmering tensions over Ukraine. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will also join them at a rare meeting of the Weimar Triangle – a regional coalition between the three countries founded in 1991.
Berlin has struggled to shake off its image as a slow responder to the conflict in Ukraine after withholding approval to send its Leopard 2 tanks to Kiev. It now faces similar demands to deliver its Taurus missiles, which Scholz said would require German soldiers to be deployed.
In February, Scholz joined the chorus of NATO leaders who strongly rejected Macron’s position about possibly sending troops to Ukraine, emphasizing on social media: “It’s clear: There will be no ground troops from European countries or NATO give. That applies.”
Tusk, whose country staunchly supported Ukraine in the war, is fresh from a meeting at the White House earlier this week in which he, Polish President Andrezj Duda and U.S. President Joe Biden committed to “Ukraine’s self-defense against to continue supporting Russia’s war.” Aggression,” one ad says.
“Real solidarity with Ukraine? Less words, more ammunition,” Tusk said on social media Friday.
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2024-03-15 15:38:21
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