PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday faced uneasy reactions from European allies and a warning from the Kremlin after he refused to rule out the dispatch of Western ground troops to Ukraine in its fight against the Russian attack.
Macron said after a conference of European leaders that "everything that is necessary" must be done to ensure the defeat of Russia, including deploying troops.
The Kremlin warned of the "inevitability" of confrontation between Nato and Russia if troops from the alliance were deployed in the conflict, which would break a major taboo the West has so far been reluctant to challenge.
Macron had refused to say more about France's position, citing the need for "strategic ambiguity" but saying the issue was mentioned "among the options".
"We are convinced that the defeat of Russia is indispensable to security and stability in Europe," Macron said.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, accused by critics of being too cosy with Moscow, said after the meeting that there was disunity on the issue among European leaders.
"There are countries that are ready to send their own soldiers to Ukraine, there are countries that say never -- Slovakia is among them -- and there are countries that say that this proposal should be considered," he said.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of Sweden, which is set to join Nato, poured cold water on the idea, saying "it's not on the cards at all for the moment".
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: "What was agreed from the beginning among ourselves and with each other also applies to the future, namely that there will be no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent there by European states or Nato states."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that if Nato troops appeared in Ukraine "we need to speak not about a possibility but of the inevitability" of confrontation.
"This is absolutely not in the interests of these countries, they should be aware of this," he added.
A Nato official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, emphasised "there are no plans for Natocombat troops on the ground in Ukraine" despite the "unprecedented military support" from the alliance.
However the UK issued a somewhat more circumspect reaction, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesman saying there were no plans for "large-scale" troop deployment to Ukraine.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Tuesday reaffirmed Macron's comments, saying: "You can't rule anything out in a war".
Macron had also taken an apparent swipe at Germany, which was mocked in the first months of the war for its relatively soft promises of military support. — AFP
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