Macron Broaches 'Boots On The Ground' In Ukraine

At a summit in Paris on 26 Feb intended to allow European leaders to discuss the situation of the war in Ukraine, the French President Emmaneul Macron has confirmed that the prospect of European or NATO 'boots on the ground' in Ukraine had been raised in the talks. While any action of this nature is almost impossible to envisage in the short-to-medium term, Macron claimed that the idea should no longer be 'excluded'.

• Mujtaba Rahman at the LSEEI writes on X that the comments had, according to senior French sources 'been intended to reassure Ukraine and to prepare European opinion for a third and troubled year of the second Russian invasion. But most of all they had been intended as words of warning to Vladimir Putin.'
• Rahman: 'the conference made two imp decisions to address Ukraine’s shortage of weapons & especially artillery shells. France lifted its objection to using EU cash to buy scarce shells on world market. It will lead a coalition to provide Kyiv with medium & long range missiles.'
• Slovakian PM Robert Fico was the first to claim that European/NATO boots on the ground would be up for discussion at the summit (see 1237GMT 26 Feb bullet). This topic was seen as off-limits for the West given that direct fighting between Russian and NATO troops risks a massive escalation towards nuclear war. Beacuse of Fico's previous pro-Moscow pronouncements there was notable hesitation among observers to take his words at face value.