Ukraine Welcomes West’s Discussion of Direct intervention, Russia warns against it
Despite the Kremlin’s assertion that a confrontation between Russia and NATO would inevitably arise if European countries of the alliance brought in soldiers to fight, a top Ukrainian official on Tuesday welcomed a discussion of European states sending troops to Ukraine.
While pointing out that there was no agreement, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that European countries may send soldiers to Ukraine.
As for Macron’s comments, Mykhailo Podolyak, the presidential adviser to Ukraine, commented in writing, saying, “First of all, this shows an absolute awareness of the risks posed to Europe by a militaristic, aggressive Russia.”
To counter the Kremlin’s narrative that Russia would prevail, over twenty European leaders convened in Paris on Monday to convey to Russian President Vladimir Putin the European Union’s stance toward Ukraine.
“The opening of a discussion on the possibility of direct support of Ukraine by armed forces should be seen as a desire to set the right accents, to highlight the risks more clearly,” Podolyak added.
He said it was important at this stage to accelerate the delivery of military equipment to Ukraine.
Asked about Macron’s remarks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “The very fact of discussing the possibility of sending certain contingents to Ukraine from NATO countries is a very important new element.”
Asked what the risks of a direct Russia-NATO conflict would be if NATO members sent their troops to fight in Ukraine, Peskov said: “In that case, we would need to talk not about the probability, but about the inevitability (of a direct conflict).”
A White House official told Reuters that the United States had no plans to send troops to fight in Ukraine and that there were also no plans to send NATO troops to fight in Ukraine.
