Macron doubles down on NATO troops in Ukraine after talks with Polish PM

Just days after meeting with Polish and German leaders, the French president said Western ground operations in Ukraine might be necessary “at some point”. It is reported by Upmp.news with reference to “Polskie Radio”.

Emmanuel Macron made the statement in an interview for ‘Le Parisien’ published on Saturday evening.

“Maybe at some point – I don’t want it, I won’t take the initiative – we will have to have operations on the ground, whatever they may be, to counter the Russian forces,” Macron was quoted as saying.

“France’s strength is that we can do it”, he added.

Last month Macron refused to rule out putting troops on the ground in Ukraine, which prompted a stern response from Berlin and comments from other European partners including Poland.

In late February, European military heavyweights Poland and Germany affirmed that they would not be sending troops to Ukraine.

Nevertheless, Macron met his Polish and German counterparts in Berlin on Friday, in a show of solidarity behind Kyiv.

After the meeting, Macron said the three countries of the so-called Weimar Triangle were “united” in their aim to “never let Russia win and to support the Ukrainian people until the end”.

Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters after the meeting: “We recognized that aid for Ukraine must be immediate and as concerted as possible.”

“We want to spend our money, we want to help in every possible way, here and now, so that the situation in Ukraine improves in the coming weeks and months, rather than deteriorates”, he added.

The meeting concluded with Tusk announcing that Scholz and Macron had accepted an invitation to visit Poland in early summer, signaling continued collaboration and planning within the Weimar Triangle format.

Meanwhile, just a day after talks with her Polish counterpart Radosław Sikorski, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen on Friday told Politico that Western countries should not rule out the idea of sending troops to Ukraine if the battlefield situation further deteriorates.

(mo)

Source: PAP, AFP, Le Monde