 "A view shows the Red Square with Lenin's Mausoleum as the Russian flag flies on the dome of the Kremlin Senate building in Moscow, Russia, on 24 June, 2023. Reuters File")
A day after French President Emmanuel Macron hinted at possibility of European nations sending troops to Ukraine, although he cautioned there was no consensus on such a step, the Kremlin on Tuesday warned that conflict between Russia and the US-led NATO military alliance would become inevitable if European members take such a step.
“The very fact of discussing the possibility of sending certain contingents to Ukraine from NATO countries is a very important new element,” Reuters quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as telling reporters when asked about Macron’s remarks.
Asked if the the risks of a direct Russia-NATO conflict would be if NATO members sent their troops to fight in Ukraine, Peskov said, “In that case, we would need to talk not about the probability, but about the inevitability (of a direct conflict).”
“And these countries need… to ask themselves if (confrontation) is in their interests and, mainly, if it’s in the interests of the citizens”, he added.
On Monday, Macron suggested that European nations could deploy troops to Ukraine, though he emphasised the absence of a consensus among allies at this point.
Some 20 European leaders gathered in Paris on Monday to send Russian President Vladimir Putin a message of European resolve on Ukraine and counter the Kremlin’s narrative that Russia is bound to win a war now in its third year.
“There is no consensus at this stage … to send troops on the ground,” Reuters quoted Macron as telling reporters on Monday. “Nothing should be excluded. We will do everything that we must so that Russia does not win,” he added.
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More ShortsMeanwhile, a White House official told Reuters that the United States had no plans to send troops to fight in Ukraine and that there were also no plans to send NATO troops to fight in Ukraine.
Macron invited his European counterparts to the Elysee palace for a hastily arranged meeting to discuss how to ramp up ammunition supplies to Ukraine amid what his advisers say is an escalation in Russian aggression over the past few weeks.
After initial successes in pushing back the Russian army, Ukraine has suffered setbacks on eastern battlefields, with its generals complaining of shortages of arms and soldiers.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has opposed military aid to Ukraine, said several NATO and EU members were considering sending soldiers to Ukraine on a bilateral basis.
“I can confirm there are countries that are prepared to send their own troops to Ukraine, there are countries that say never, among which Slovakia belongs, and there are countries that say this proposal needs to be considered,” Reuters quoted him as saying before boarding his plane home.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who is the frontrunner to become the next secretary general of NATO, told reporters the issue of sending troops was not the focus of Monday’s talks.
Addressing the leaders via videolink, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky backed Macron’s warning about an escalation of the conflict: “We must ensure that Putin cannot destroy our achievements and cannot expand his aggression to other nations.”
Macron said: “Many people who say ‘Never, never’ today were the same people who said ’never tanks, never planes, never long-range missiles’ two years ago
“Let us have the humility to note that we have often been six to twelve months late. This was the objective of this evening’s discussion: everything is possible if it is useful to achieve our objective,” he said, adding that Europe should not depend on the United States to fight in Ukraine.
With inputs from agencies