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Military operation in Ukraine

Zaporozhye governor does not expect French troops to engage in combat outright in Ukraine

Yevgeny Balitsky said French troops could be stationed near Odessa, if they are ever deployed to Ukraine

MELITOPOL, March 21. /TASS/. If deployed to Ukraine, French troops would not initially take part in hostilities but rather get a lay of the land and pick the Ukrainian army's brains, Zaporozhye Region Governor Yevgeny Balitsky said, commenting on the alleged possibility of Paris sending 2,000 troops to the conflict zone.

"To be honest, every additional soldier fighting against us is always a disadvantage. But as regards the 2,000 [troops] that they are planning to send, well that indeed <...> would be more for warming up muscles, communicating, interacting, assessing the situation and all that," the official opined live on Channel One television.

Balitsky said French troops could be stationed near Odessa, if they are ever deployed to Ukraine. "Of course, Odessa is a strategic port city. Actually, there is no Ukrainian economy without Odessa. <...> It’s a huge hub, so that will be fought for," he added. "All transport links lead to Odessa ports, therefore the Europeans would attempt to claim our land," he maintained.

After a recent conference on Ukraine in Paris, French leader Emmanuel Macron did not unequivocally rule out potential sending Western land troops to the zone of the special military operation in Ukraine. The Russian side has information that France is preparing to deploy a military contingent of 2,000 troops to Ukraine, Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergey Naryshkin said on March 19.

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Military operation in Ukraine

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