It was at a press conference on Monday evening that Macron dropped the rhetorical bomb.
– Today there is no consensus on how troops can be sent to Ukrainian soil in an open, official and accepted manner. But in the current dynamics, nothing should be excluded. “We will do everything necessary to prevent Russia from winning this war,” Macron said.
He said this following a meeting with regarding twenty other EU leaders in Paris that the French president invited to discuss how support for Ukraine can be increased.
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico to Paris on Monday. Photo: Ludovic Marin/AFP
Before the summit, Slovakia had Prime Minister Robert Fico said that a number of NATO and EU countries “are considering sending troops to Ukraine on a bilateral basis”. Fico is among those who oppose the EU providing military support to Ukraine, and he himself has been criticized for being pro-Russia. But here he seems to be on to something.
Fico is among those who are once morest the EU providing military support to Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Nathalie Loiseau, who was the first name of Macron’s party alliance in the last election to the European Parliament, explained on French radio that what is now being discussed is sending military instructors to Ukraine to train soldiers there on various weapons systems.
That kind of training has been going on for just over a year now in Western Europe. For example, Sweden has participated in the training of Ukrainian recruits in Great Britain. And as European arms manufacturers build factories in Ukraine, it becomes natural that it also happens there.
But it is not without risk. When British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps opened last October to train Ukrainians in western Ukraine, the response came quickly from the Kremlin: the British instructors would then be seen as “legitimate military targets”. Shortly followingwards, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared that it would only be seen as “a long-term possibility”.
Have we reached that point now? Perhaps.
But to send troops is politically sensitive. Ulf Kristersson said on Tuesday to SVT that for Sweden it is “not relevant at all right now” – and that “France’s tradition is not the Swedish tradition”.
The British state that today they have a small number of soldiers in place in Ukraine, but there is no question of any “large-scale” troop presence. Germany says absolutely no.
In France, Macron’s opening provokes strong reactions.
And in France, Macron’s opening provokes strong reactions. Both right-wing nationalist Marine Le Pen and left-wing leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon go to the roof, warning of the risk of open confrontation with Russia and instead want to see peace negotiations. It is far from certain that Macron has enough support at home to go ahead with his plans.
Marine Le Pen Photo: Eliot Blondet/Bestimage
The question is therefore whether the most important message from the president ended up in the cloud.
France has for several months stubbornly insisted that the ammunition that the European Union sends to Ukraine must be purchased within the EU, in order to strengthen the capacity of its defense industry. But the flagrant failure to meet the target of sending one million grenades in a year has finally made Macron change his mind: France is now agreeing to the EU buying ammunition from other parts of the world, as proposed by the Czech government.
This means that up to SEK 15 billion can now be released to buy ammunition from South Korea, among others. In the trenches of Ukraine, the announcement is of a completely different dignity than that French instructors might be sent to Ukraine at some point in the future.
Macron also promised that France should contribute to these purchases – but it is unclear how much. Generally speaking, he would probably do well to act more and talk less when it comes to Ukraine. Because despite the fact that France has recently signaled greater ambitions, the country is still far behind Germany and Great Britain when it comes to concrete military aid.
Generally speaking, he would probably do well to act more and talk less when it comes to Ukraine.
Now Macron wants the EU, following another, separate initiative from Estonia, to borrow large sums to finance weapons purchases in the future to Ukraine, similar to what was done with the so-called corona fund. But EU countries such as Germany and the Netherlands would prefer France to open its own wallet more.
Read more:
Michael Winiarski: Sweden in NATO a moral support for Ukraine – if the alliance survives
Calculation: 120 Russians die on the battlefield – every day
Swedish officers train hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers in England
France mobilizes arms industry – but support for Ukraine remains modest
