|
French President Emmanuel Macron raised the possibility on
Monday of European nations sending troops to Ukraine, but
cautioned that there was no consensus.
"This shows, firstly, an absolute awareness of the risks posed
to Europe by a militaristic, aggressive Russia," Ukrainian
presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in a written comment
on Macron's statement.
Some 20 European leaders gathered in Paris on Monday to send
Russian President Vladimir Putin a message of European resolve
on Ukraine and counter the Kremlin's narrative that Russia is
bound to win a war now in its third year.
"The opening of a discussion on the possibility of direct
support of Ukraine by armed forces should be seen as a desire to
set the right accents, to highlight the risks more clearly,"
Podolyak added.
He said it was important at this stage to accelerate the
delivery of military equipment to Ukraine.
Asked about Macron's remarks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov
told reporters: "The very fact of discussing the possibility of
sending certain contingents to Ukraine from NATO countries is a
very important new element."
Asked what the risks of a direct Russia-NATO conflict would be
if NATO members sent their troops to fight in Ukraine, Peskov
said: "In that case, we would need to talk not about the
probability, but about the inevitability (of a direct
conflict)."
A White House official told Reuters that the United States had
no plans to send troops to fight in Ukraine and that there were
also no plans to send NATO troops to fight in Ukraine.
(Reporting by Reuters, and by Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv; Editing by
Kevin Liffey and Timothy Heritage)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
