French President Emmanuel Macron does not rule out sending Western ground troops to Ukraine. Germany is outraged, Russia is talking about a war with NATO. But what’s really behind it?
The bang came shortly before midnight on Monday. Previously, 20 heads of state and government had discussed for many hours in Paris about further support for Ukraine. Working session, after which French President Emmanuel Macron invited everyone to dinner. When many observers were already a little sleepy in the evening expecting that there wouldn’t be a big hit at this meeting, the big surprise came.
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Macron announced that he no longer wanted to rule out sending Western soldiers to Ukraine. France also wants to form a coalition with other countries to organize medium and long-range missiles for Ukraine. Boom. Both statements document a clear French turnaround in the conflict. And they send a clear message to Putin: The West is not giving up and can trigger further levels of escalation.
Nevertheless, this is not all good news for Ukraine. Because Macron’s advance is also a dangerous step against Germany. The blessing in German-French relations is going badly wrong, at a time when US support for Ukraine is in danger of disappearing.
Strategic attack on Putin
“Today there is no consensus on officially sending ground troops,” the French president said at the press conference. “But nothing can be ruled out in the dynamic. We will do everything necessary to ensure that Russia cannot win this war.” Macron repeated: Nothing should be excluded in order to pursue the goal: “Russia cannot and must not win this war.”
Macron did not give any details, nor did he say which countries were in favor of sending ground troops. Only: “I by no means said that France does not support this.”
Macron seems to want to signal to the Kremlin that Western support for Ukraine is not at an end. With a view to possible negotiations, it is also strategically about demonstrating strength. Why should Putin negotiate if he expects to win anyway? Against this background, the French leadership appears to have come to the decision that it must feed the Russian president’s fear of Western intervention. After all, Western secret services repeatedly report that Putin is paranoid and fears a more active role for the West and especially the USA in the war.
Russia warns of a big war
Moscow is already warning of the next world war. In doing so, Putin’s regime primarily wants to stir up fears in Western societies. “This (editor’s note: sending ground troops) is absolutely not in the interests of these countries, they must be aware of that,” said Kremlin spokesman Peskov on Tuesday.
The fear of a war between NATO and Russia has existed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. And with it the question of where the red line lies. The debate about a possible escalation took place, for example, in the delivery of tanks and fighter jets. But ground troops would actually be a new dimension. Military expert Carlo Masala told ZDF “heute”: The moment French ground troops cross the border into Ukraine, they are participants in the war. This interpretation is quite delicate since, according to a leaked US intelligence report from March 2023, special units from various NATO states are already said to be active in Ukraine.
