PARIS: A Western ground operation in Ukraine may be necessary “at some point,” French President Emmanuel Macron said days after meeting the leaders of Germany and Poland.
Last month, President Macron did not rule out the possibility of deploying military forces in Ukraine, prompting a sharp reaction from Berlin and other European countries.
But the French president did not back down from his position and emphasized that the Western allies do not intend to lead.
“Maybe at some point — I don’t want it, I won’t take the initiative — we will have to have operations on the ground, whatever they may be, to counter the Russian forces,” President Macron said in an interview to newspaper Le Parisien published Saturday evening.
“France’s strength is that we can do it.”
Disagreements over the deployment of long-range missiles in Kiev and possible ground operations threatened to undermine cooperation between the allies.
German Chancellor Olaf Schulz was outraged by Macron’s failure to rule out sending troops to Ukraine and his sharp comments urging allies not to be “cowards”.
President Macron met with the German and Polish prime ministers in Berlin on Friday in a show of solidarity in support of Kiev.
After the meeting, Macron said the three countries of the so-called Weimar Triangle were “united” in their aim to “never let Russia win and to support the Ukrainian people until the end.”
