Faced with the prospect of the US reducing its commitment to Ukraine after Donald Trump returns to the White House, France and Britain do not rule out the possibility of leading a coalition deployed in Ukraine.
Le Monde newspaper on November 25 quoted sources saying that France and Britain have resumed discussions on sending troops to Ukraine as the conflict is entering a new phase of escalation.
The sources said these were sensitive, mostly top-secret discussions that were restarted in anticipation of the US withdrawing support for Ukraine after President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20, 2025.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron at the commemoration of the end of World War I in Paris on November 11
Talks of sending Western troops and private defense companies to Ukraine have been strongly opposed by several European countries, notably Germany. The idea was first proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron in February in Paris and has been revived in recent weeks following a visit to France by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on November 11, according to Le Monde .
Why is NATO hesitant to send infantry to Ukraine?
During a visit to London on November 22, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the media that Western allies should not draw red lines in their support for Ukraine. When asked about the possibility of sending French troops to Ukraine, Mr. Barrot stated that "no option is excluded."
According to Le Monde , the plan includes sending personnel from private defense companies to Ukraine to train soldiers and maintain Western-supplied weapons systems. The French government holds shares in these companies.
Le Monde quoted Mr. Elie Tenenbaum, Director of the Center for Security Studies at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), saying that European countries, especially France and the UK, could send troops to Ukraine to ensure the ceasefire agreement and security commitment to Kyiv.
The French and British governments have not commented on Le Monde 's report. The leader of the right-wing Les Patriotes (The Patriots) party, Florian Philippot, called the report shocking and called for protests. "No French citizen, no soldier can or should accept this because it will inevitably lead to a third world nuclear war," Philippot wrote on the social network X.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he did not know the veracity of the information, but the idea had caused controversy in Europe, according to TASS. "There is no consensus among European countries on this issue, but of course, some hotheads still appear," Mr. Peskov said. The spokesman had stressed that the deployment of foreign troops to Ukraine would lead to serious and irreversible consequences.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/anh-phap-lai-tinh-chuyen-dua-quan-sang-ukraine-185241126113551969.htm
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