MACRON DOES NOT RULE OUT EUROPEAN TROOPS GOING TO UKRAINE

“We are convinced that the defeat of Russia is indispensable to security and stability in Europe,” Macron told reporters after the meeting.

“There’s no consensus today to send in an official, endorsed manner troops on the ground. But in terms of dynamics, nothing can be ruled out,” he said.

“We will do everything that we must so that Russia does not win.”

Macron declined to provide details about which nations were considering sending troops, saying he prefers to maintain some “strategic ambiguity”.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Poland’s President Andrzej Duda were among the European heads of state and government present at the conference, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy joined virtually.

Duda said the most heated discussion was about whether to send troops to Ukraine and “there was no agreement on the matter”.

“Opinions differ here, but there are no such decisions,” he said.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has opposed military aid to Ukraine, meanwhile said several NATO and European Union 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,” he said before boarding his plane home.

The summit was called as Ukraine’s generals decried a lack of personnel and armaments and faced defeats on the battlefields in the east.