MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/. The Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) cannot confirm at this point whether any French troops have been deployed to Ukraine, though mercenaries from France and other Western countries are present on its battlefields, DPR head Denis Pushilin told Rossiya-24 television.
Earlier, Christelle Neant, a French military reporter living and working in the DPR, told TASS in an interview that the French military is already taking part in hostilities in Donbass on the Kiev government’s side. French career officers or former soldiers may be fighting there, she surmised.
"There have not been reports indicating the presence of French troops on the remaining territory of Ukraine so far. Mercenaries from France and other countries are still present there though," Pushilin said, citing data obtained by the Russian Investigative Committee.
The DPR leader added that quite a large number of military advisers from France and other Western countries have been operating in Donbass since 2014.
In an interview with The Economist, French President Emmanuel Macron speculated that troops could be sent to Ukraine if Kiev asked for them or if Russian forces broke through the front lines. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that those remarks marked an unprecedented round of tensions. In turn, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that French troops would inevitably become a target for the Russian army, should they be deployed to the conflict zone in Ukraine.