NATO’s leaders dismissed the whole idea, but after 9 months of stalemate, Russian forces are advancing. As for the US, support for Ukraine has gone from ‘as long as it takes’ to ‘as long as we can.’
Ukraine marks 2 years since the start of the war
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed Western leaders to Kyiv on Saturday to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
NATO leaders shot down a suggestion by France’s president that Western troops could eventually fight alongside Ukrainian forces two years into Russia’s ongoing invasion, as the Kremlin warned of a wider conflict with the West.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s swiftly punctured trial balloon highlighted fears that Russian advances in Ukraine will embolden Moscow to threaten front-line eastern European states − all while billions of dollars in desperately needed U.S. aid to Kyiv remains stalled in the U.S. Congress.
“There’s no consensus today to send…troops on the ground,” French President Emanuel Macron told reporters from the presidential palace on Monday. “But in terms of dynamics, nothing can be ruled out. We will do whatever it takes to ensure that Russia cannot win this war.”
Macron wouldn’t say which countries might be mulling European boots on the Ukrainian ground, citing the need for “strategic ambiguity.”
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‘No’ in several languages
Where the French president spoke of ambiguity, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg instead dished clarity, telling the Associated Press on Tuesday there are “no plans for NATO combat troops on the ground in Ukraine.”
Other leaders piled on. “There will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil who are sent there by European states or NATO states,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters Monday after a meeting of 20 leaders and diplomats hosted by Macron.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland said Tuesday that his country’s troops would not fight in Ukraine, and Czech Republic Prime Minister Petr Fiala said his country “certainly doesn’t want to send its soldiers.”
While making clear that President Joe Biden has ruled out any U.S. forces fighting in Ukraine, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was less equivocal about European armies. “It’s a sovereign decision that every NATO ally would have to make for themselves,” he said Tuesday. “There’ll be no U.S. troops on the ground in a combat role there.”
And the Kremlin seized on Macron’s comments to warn of the first-ever combat between Russian and NATO troops. “In this case, we need to talk not about probability, but about the inevitability” of direct fighting between Moscow’s forces and those of the Western military alliance, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
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US support: From ‘as long as it takes’ to ‘as long as we can’
Macron’s remarks came amid dismal reports from Ukraine, where troops are struggling to hold off the Russians amid an ammunition shortage and waning U.S. assistance.
After nine months of stalemate, Russian forces recently took control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, and Moscow continues to hold nearly 20% of Ukrainian territory. Meanwhile, a $60 billion U.S. aid package is stalled by congressional Republicans as polls show GOP voters souring on support and former President Donald Trump pulls the party away from Ukraine.
Biden had promised at the 2023 State of the Union address to support Kyiv “as long as it takes.” By December, Biden was reduced to telling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Washington would keep up military aid for “as long as we can.”
The European Union and individual member states are scrambling to shore up Kyiv as American resolve weakens. Earlier this month, European leaders pledged $54 billion in economic aid, for a total of $150 billion since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
The U.S., for its part, has sent $74.3 billion in military, financial, and humanitarian aid, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
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Some countries are ‘ready’ to send troops, Slovakian leader says
In remarks on Monday, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, who opposes military aid to Ukraine, said he had heard that some countries were considering bilateral deals to send troops.
“There are countries that are ready to send their own soldiers to Ukraine, there are countries that say never – Slovakia is among them – and there are countries that say that this proposal should be considered,” Fico said.
While many Western leaders were aghast at the French president’s suggestion, it received a warm welcome in Kyiv.
“Macron is now demonstrating a deep understanding of the risks posed to Europe by the war in Ukraine,” Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak told the AFP news service on Tuesday. “The French president’s statement clearly takes the discussion to another level,” he added.
“This is a good sign,” Podolyak said.
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US isn’t ‘eager’ to see European troops in Ukraine
Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Macron was likely trying to signal to the Kremlin that Europe would consider all options in the defense of Ukraine − even though the likelihood of French troops actually fighting Russian forces was minuscule.
In the event French troops ever land in Ukraine, they would probably serve as technical advisors for the advanced missile systems that France and other countries have pledged to their embattled ally, far from the front lines.
And, despite Kirby’s diplomatic response to the French president, “I don’t think the U.S. is eager to see any NATO member boots on the ground,” Bergmann said. “It could produce additional pressure on the U.S. to do the same.
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Contributing: Swapna Venugopal, USA TODAY; Associated Press
