French ruler and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) member Emmanuel Macron suggested that the West will need to put “boots on the ground” in Ukraine in order to defeat Russia. Moscow has already responded by saying such a move would make a direct war with the United States-led military bloc “inevitable.”
Supporters of Kiev gathered in Paris on Monday at Macron’s invitation to discuss what they should do as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues. The conflict has now entered its third year. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly participated in the event, which was held behind closed doors, via a video link.
Ukrainian troops have suffered a new series of setbacks on the battlefield over the past several weeks. The government is struggling to replenish lost troops, as the parliament is debating mobilization reform, which would introduce harsh punishments for dodging the draft. Meanwhile, a partisan row in the US Congress has kept a White House request for additional Ukraine aid in legislative limbo.
The Elysee Palace touted the gathering as a way for participants to “reaffirm their unity” and express their determination to defeat Russia. Some guests who are critical of the Western approach expressed concerns beforehand. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said the agenda “sends chills down my spine.” -RT
Following the private discussions, Macron described various ways the West could help Kyiv to win the war at a press conference, arguing that preventing a Russian victory served European security interests. There was “no consensus to officially back any ground troops,” he said, while controversially adding that “nothing should be excluded.”
While most of the European Union balked at Macron’s comments that soldiers should get officially involved in the fighting, the Russian government reacted with a warning. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that while most of Macron’s anti-Russian rhetoric at the press conference was just a repetition of things he’d said in the past, the public proposal for an acknowledged presence of NATO troops in Ukraine was new.
Peskov said that should NATO put any kind of “boots on the ground” people would “have to talk not about the probability, but rather the inevitability” of a direct Russian-NATO clash.
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