PARIS, March 7. /TASS/. Former French President Francois Hollande said that Paris should not talk about its plans for military support for Kiev, the AFP quoted him as saying.
"My position on military issues is like this: talk less and act better. Don't talk about what we do and do what we don't talk about. This way we will achieve the greatest effectiveness," Hollande told reporters after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace.
This is how Hollande commented on Macron’s statements about the possibility to send Western military personnel to Ukraine.
According to Hollande, EU countries should show greater unity in supporting Kiev and "everything that violates unity in Europe" interferes with the expansion of assistance to Ukraine. The former head of state recalled that he communicated a lot with Russian President Vladimir Putin and believes that the united position of the Europeans "will make him contemplate."
"The only possible response is to show that we are with the Ukrainians in total solidarity, that we provide them with all the necessary support, without participating in any combat ourselves," Hollande said.
Hollande expressed hope that Germany will "act faster to fulfill its obligations" to the Ukrainians. France, he said, should supply as much military assistance as possible, "including the most sophisticated equipment." Speaking about European countries as a whole, he called on the allies to consider the greatest efficiency when deciding to send equipment or provide other assistance.
On February 26, French President Emmanuel Macron said that at a meeting in Paris, where representatives of about 20 Western countries discussed further support for Ukraine in the conflict with Russia, the topic of the potential deployment by Western countries of their own ground troops to Ukraine was raised. According to him, the participants did not reach a consensus on this issue, but such a scenario cannot be ruled out in the future. After the conference, representatives of most of the participating countries said that they were not planning to send troops to Ukraine and, moreover, that they opposed their involvement in military hostilities against Russia.