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Military operation in Ukraine

NATO troop deployment to Ukraine not possible, not being discussed — EU military chief

Addressing the destruction of Western weapons in Ukraine, Herve Blejean, head of the European Union Military Staff, noted that one should be prepared for such eventualities

PARIS, June 14. /TASS/. No deployment of NATO forces on Ukrainian territory is possible, and such a move is not on the alliance’s agenda and will not be, says Herve Blejean, director general of the European Union Military Staff, who commands the EU training mission for Ukrainian servicemen.

"This is out of the question. To send ground troops to Ukraine means to become a party to the conflict and enter a state of war with Russia. No one wants that, neither NATO, nor the EU," he said on France’s LCI, commenting on remarks made by former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who considers such an option possible. "We are not party to the conflict and we will not become one."

Addressing the destruction of Western weapons in Ukraine, Blejean noted that one should be prepared for such eventualities.

On June 7, The Guardian quoted Rasmussen, who said that a number of NATO states may deploy ground forces to Ukraine "on an individual basis." In his opinion, if Kiev fails to obtain anything during the July 11-12 NATO summit in Vilnius, then Poland and the Baltic states could deploy their forces to Ukraine.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that the US and NATO are directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine by dint of shipping weapons and training personnel. According to the foreign minister, "hundreds of Western instructors operate directly on the ground; they show the Ukrainians how to operate the shipped weapons."

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