WASHINGTON, February 28. /TASS/. US curators should realize the consequences of sending troops from Western countries to Ukraine, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov told reporters.

"American curators cannot help but realize what such a development of the events is fraught with," the diplomat said in a statement posted on the embassy’s Telegram channel. Antonov pointed out that "Washington's unbridled European satellites" have begun to talk aloud "about the previously unthinkable - sending their own armed forces to Ukraine."

After a conference on Ukraine in Paris on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron said that he did not rule out that land forces from Western countries could be sent to the zone of special military operation. He also said that Western counties were "determined to do everything it takes to prevent Russia" from gaining the upper hand in the conflict.

Commenting on Macron's remarks, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed out that if Western troops were sent to Ukraine, a direct military conflict between NATO and Russia would be inevitable. He added that the NATO members should be aware of this and "ask themselves whether this is in their interests and, above all, in the interests of the citizens of their countries."