ROME, February 27. /TASS/. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has come out against sending troops to Ukraine.

"We are not in a state of war with Russia, we are defending Ukraine. And I am personally against sending Italian troops to fight in Ukraine," the ANSA news agency quoted him as saying.

According to the top Italian diplomat, this matter should be tackled very carefully. He called for refraining from give off the "impression that we are fighting against Russia."

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron did not rule out such an option. After a meeting in the Elysee Palace on February 26, Macron said that the participants had looked at sending ground troops to Ukraine. Although no consensus was reached on this topic, he left the door open for such a scenario in the future. The Paris conference on Ukraine was attended by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Polish President Andrzej Duda and prime ministers from around 20 EU countries. The United States was represented by US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O'Brien, and David Cameron represented the United Kingdom.