“If the Russians were to break through…” –

French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated in statements to the weekly The Economist the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine in the event that Russia manages to advance on the eastern front and Kiev requests it. “If the Russians were to break through the front lines, if there was a Ukrainian request – which is not the case today – we should legitimately raise the question” of sending troops, Macron told the British weekly. “Excluding it a priori means not learning the lesson of the last two years”, in which NATO countries initially refused to send tanks and planes to Ukraine before changing their minds, added the French president.

Macron has thus confirmed what he declared in recent weeks. “As I said, I don’t rule anything out because we have someone before us who doesn’t rule anything out,” the president said. “We were undoubtedly too hesitant in formulating the limits of our action to someone who no longer has them and who is the aggressor,” added the head of state. «I have a clear strategic goal: Russia cannot win in Ukraine. If Russia wins in Ukraine, we will no longer have security in Europe”, Macron further observed. «Who can expect Russia to stop there? What security (can there be) for the other neighboring countries, Moldova, Romania, Poland, Lithuania and many others?”, asked the owner of the Elysée, also questioning the “credibility for the Europeans, who would have spent billions, saying that the survival of the continent is at stake” and that in the end “they would not have the means to stop Russia”. “So yes, we shouldn’t rule anything out,” concluded Macron.