The Daily Populous Friday May 3rd, 2024 night edition
Authored by kyivpost.com and submitted by Elliottafc1

French President Emmanuel Macron has reaffirmed that he doesn't rule out sending troops to Ukraine if Russia breaks through Ukrainian front lines and Kyiv requests such assistance.

In an interview with The Economist, Macron stated that the possibility of sending troops would "legitimately" arise in such a scenario.

Macron's comments come in the wake of rising tensions amid concerns that Russia may launch a major new offensive in Ukraine.

Some analysts believe that Russia could be on the verge of launching a major new offensive in Ukraine.

"I'm not ruling anything out, because we are facing someone who is not ruling anything out," said Macron when asked if he stood by comments earlier this year not excluding the sending of Western troops that sent shockwaves around Europe.

He emphasized that if Russia were to escalate its actions, it would force all European leaders to consider sending troops.

"If Russia decided to go further, we will, in any case, all have to ask ourselves this question" of sending troops, describing his refusal to rule out such a move as a "strategic wake-up call for my counterparts," Macron said.

French president described Russia as "a power of regional destabilisation" and a significant threat to European security.

Furthermore, he outlined his strategic objective, stating that Russia cannot be allowed to win in Ukraine.

"I have a clear strategic objective: Russia cannot win in Ukraine," Macron said.

"If Russia wins in Ukraine, there will be no security in Europe.

Other Topics of Interest More Than 160 Delegations Invited to Ukraine Peace Talks One big unknown is whether Moscow's key ally China will attend. China has never condemned Russia's attack on Ukraine and stands accused of indirectly supporting the war.

French leader questioned the security of neighboring countries such as Moldova, Romania, Poland, Lithuania, and others, should Russia achieve victory in Ukraine.

Macron triggered a shockwave in Europe back in February by refusing to rule out the dispatch of Western ground troops to Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion.

Macron had hosted a conference of European leaders on February 26 -- just over two years to the day after Russia invaded Ukraine -- seeking to rally greater support for Kyiv, which faces increasing battlefield challenges and dwindling munition stocks.

He painted a grim picture of Russia under President Vladimir Putin, arguing that even in the last months, there had been a "change of posture" that had seen a hardening of its stance both domestically and in Ukraine.

While there was "no consensus" on the sending of Western ground troops to Ukraine, "nothing should be excluded. We will do whatever it takes to ensure that Russia cannot win this war," Macron said.

Von_Thomson on May 2nd, 2024 at 16:39 UTC »

Even NATO creating a buffer zone along the Belarus border would release a substantial amount of Ukrainians for the east and cut off an axis of attack for Russia.

TinyScopeTinkerer on May 2nd, 2024 at 12:54 UTC »

I'm happy to see France's developments in dealing with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They were slow to start, but at this point, I think Macron is being reasonable but firm.

There's no need to put boots on the ground, but it should be made clear that no inch of Ukraine is for the taking. We can't keep trying to reason with dictators. It doesn't work.

Various_Abrocoma_431 on May 2nd, 2024 at 12:49 UTC »

Probably never direct frontline confrontation but France strengthening Ukraine's back with anti air operations Equipment and troops stationed in western Ukraine or even planes launched from neighbouring countries targeting Russian missiles and drones.

There is a lot of levels of escalation to France putting boots on the ground in Ukraine.

People like to jump to the Russian propaganda narrative of WW3 though, not understanding that Russia taking Ukraine against all western efforts, would be the start of an international poly crisis of countries trying to resolve their territorial disputes which would then be about as close to WW3 as we could get.