MOSCOW, May 3. /TASS/. French President Emmanuel Macron, contrary to prior statements, is in no hurry to send troops to Ukraine despite Russia’s military successes, Ukraine’s Strana news outlet said.
On May 2, in an interview with The Economist, Macron named two conditions for sending troops to Ukraine: Kiev's request and Russia's breakthrough on the front line. For now, there is no such request from Ukraine, he said. According to the news outlet, Macron’s recent statement does not mean concrete steps will be taken, and the conditions named in reality do not determine the introduction of troops. It should be noted that since the beginning of the year there have already been two breakthroughs by Russian troops, in Avdeyevka and Ocheretino, but still, Macron is not rushing to introduce troops. Moreover, if it was Ukraine calling the shots, then President Vladimir Zelensky would have made such a request long ago.
According to Strana, the issue of sending Western troops to Ukraine is hopelessly deadlocked, mainly due to the lack of consensus in NATO. This idea is not supported by the leading members of the alliance - the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States and Italy. At the same time, Macron's statements are not a bluff, as he is feeling out reactions in Russia, the West and other countries of the world to this possibility. This feeling out process has made it clear that most Western countries are against this idea, both the public and authorities, primarily because of the threat of nuclear war in case of a direct clash between NATO and Russia. Meanwhile, this does not mean that the issue is off the table, the news outlet said, but without the consent of the United States it is unlikely to move forward.
Strana also pointed out that although Macron has been declaring since the winter that he is ready to send his troops to Ukraine, he is holding off on going to Kiev himself. He had planned a visit for the beginning of February, but this was postponed, then moved to March, and now it is already May and Macron still has not visited the country, the main reason being that before the visit the president wanted to consult with other NATO members on the issue of troop deployment, but the consultations were apparently delayed.
On February 26, the French leader said that representatives of about 20 Western countries attended the Paris meeting, and the issue of the possible deployment of ground troops in Ukraine was raised. According to him, the participants did not reach a consensus on the matter, but such a scenario cannot be ruled out in the future.
Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergey Naryshkin said on March 19 that France was already preparing a military contingent to be sent to Ukraine. Zelensky admitted in early April that he could not publicly ask his Western partners to send troops to the country, but that he wanted to do so and would never refuse their help.