NATO’s secretary-general has said there are no plans to send troops to Ukraine, as Russia claimed it was ready to enter a direct conflict with the Western military alliance should it put boots on the ground.
Responding to remarks made by French President Emmanuel Macron the previous day, Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday denied that NATO countries were considering the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine amid the Russian invasion.
There are “no plans for NATO combat troops on the ground in Ukraine”, the NATO chief said.
Macron told a meeting of European leaders on Monday that while “there’s no consensus today to send in an official, endorsed manner troops on the ground … nothing can be ruled out”.
Russia was quick to leap upon the French leader’s comments. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called Macron’s suggestion that Western states could send ground troops to Ukraine “a very important new element”.
It is “absolutely not in the interests” of European members of NATO, he told reporters. “In that case, we would need to talk not about the probability, but about the inevitability [of direct conflict].”
While ruling out NATO military action, Stoltenberg again insisted that the alliance would continue to support Kyiv strongly.
“This is a war of aggression by Russia against Ukraine, blatantly violating international law,” he said. “According to international law, Ukraine of course has the right to self-defence, and we have the right to support them in upholding that right.”
