Slovak PM Claims EU, NATO Members Could Send Troops To Ukraine

Wires carrying comments from Slovakian PM Robert Fico claiming that "some EU, NATO countries are considering sending troops to Ukraine on a bilateral basis". Adds that he "cannot reveal why". Fico says he "learned of such considerations form notes for the Paris leaders' meeting" says that he "believes sending troops would lead to escalation."

• These comments appear to have come out of nowhere, with no indication from any EU or NATO leader that the deployment of their own troops on the ground in Ukraine is even a remote possibility.
• Fico has come in for significant criticism over the weekend, having postedon social media claims that the military action in the Donbas that has raged since 2014 was because "Ukrainian neo-Nazis" were "rampant". Alongside Hungary's Viktor Orban, Fico is seen as one of the EU leaders least inclined to offer military backing to Kyiv, having come to power in late 2023 on a populist platform of not sending more weaponry to Ukraine.
• This eveningFrench President Emmanuel Macron is set to hold a working meeting of 20 European leaders and senior ministers in an effort to show resolve in support for Ukraine more than two years after the Russian invasion. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Dutch PM Mark Rutte, Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez, and UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron expected to be in attendance. Meeting seen as unlikely to result in any new commitment to weapons provision to Kyiv, instead intended to facilitate discussions of how to improve coordination and assist Ukraine in repelling recent Russian advances.