BEIJING, February 28. /TASS/. Sending NATO ground forces to Ukraine would make the Russia-Ukraine armed conflict spiral out of control, Professor at the China Foreign Affairs University Li Haidong said on Wednesday.

"If NATO members deploy troops in the name of the countries' armies rather than volunteers or militias, Russia might be forced to use more destructive weapons and flood more troops onto the battlefield, and the war will become more brutal and uncontrollable," The Global Times newspaper quoted the Chinese expert as saying.

As the expert pointed out, it is hard to predict the future of Russia-NATO tension. However, considering NATO’s collective defense principle, the idea of sending ground forces to Ukraine "will face opposition within NATO over concerns of potential escalation," he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said after an informal meeting of EU leaders in the Elysee Palace on February 26 that the sides had discussed an option of sending Western troops to Ukraine. He said that the participants in the discussion had reached no consensus on this issue but this scenario could not be ruled out in the future.

Commenting on the French president’s statements, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that a direct military conflict between NATO and Russia would be inevitable, if Western troops were sent to Ukraine.