The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, hosted the leaders of 17 EU countries as well as ministers and officials from the UK, US and Canada, on February 26, to discuss how the West can help Ukraine in its fight against Russian invaders.
Ahead of Mr Macron’s international summit, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico claimed the topics listed in a “restricted document” he had received “imply that a number of NATO and EU member states are considering sending troops to Ukraine on a bilateral basis.”
Mr Fico didn’t provide many details on when boots could be sent to Ukraine nor for which reasons, saying: “I can’t say for what purpose or what they would do there.”
Petr Fiala, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and one of the attendees at Mr Macron’s meeting, was quick to disavow Mr Fico’s statement, as he said ahead of the event that his country “certainly is not preparing to send any soldiers to Ukraine, nobody has to worry about that”.
Following the international discussions, however, the French President refused to rule out sending NATO and EU troops to war-torn Ukraine.
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He said: “There is no consensus to officially back any ground troops. That said, nothing should be excluded. We will do everything that we can to make sure that Russia does not prevail.”
Mr Macron said Russia is “presenting a greater danger” as Vladimir Putin is eyeing up not just more Ukrainian territories but also other European nations.
While no decision was made on troops during the meeting held in France, European leaders did agree on creating a new coalition set to provide medium and long-range strike missile capability, Mr Macron said.
So far, leaders of NATO members have been clear they would not send their troops to fight in Ukraine – but they suggested they could send soldiers after the war ends to help rebuild the country and for training.
The deployment of NATO soldiers on Ukrainian ground now could be seen by the Kremlin as a direct involvement of the Western alliance in the conflict and lead to a major escalation, possibly including a global war involving the Western military alliance fighting against Russia and its allies.
Now Express.co.uk is asking its readers whether they think NATO should send troops to Ukraine.
After months of little movement on the frontline, Russia managed this month to conquer the frontline city of Avdiivka – although at a great cost of troops and equipment.
Russia could soon make more advances as Ukraine is seeing its military aid dwindling, with the US Congress still preventing a bill including billions worth of support from being approved.
The Russian President placed his country on a war footing in September 2022, calling not just for a partial mobilisation of men but also for industries to support the illegal invasion.
In late 2023, he also showed Russia is planning a long war by approving a budget suggesting Russia will this year spend six percent of its GDP on the military. Defence spending is also set to exceed social spending in Russia throughout 2024.
Leaders of eastern European nations and analysts have been sounding alarm bells in recent weeks over the real possibility Putin will launch an attack on Moldova, Poland or the Baltic States should he achieve a victory in Ukraine.
