France is building an alliance of countries open to potentially sending Western troops to Ukraine — and in the process deepening its clash with a more cautious Berlin.
French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné was in Lithuania on Friday, where he met his Baltic and Ukrainian counterparts to buttress the idea that foreign troops could end up helping Ukraine in areas like demining.
"It is not for Russia to tell us how we should help Ukraine in the coming months or years," Séjourné said, "it is not for Russia to organize how we deploy our actions, or to set red lines. So we decide it among us.
Ukraine did not ask us to send troops. Ukraine is asking us to send ammunition at the moment," the French minister concluded. "We do not exclude anything for the coming months."
The Baltic ministers praised France for "thinking out of the box", also Warsaw is shifting position. After stating not to have such plans like sending troops short after Macron's statement, the Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said on Friday that "the presence of NATO forces in Ukraine is not unthinkable," adding that he appreciated Macron's initiative, "because it is about [Russian President Vladimir] Putin being afraid, not us being afraid of Putin."
Séjourné raised concerns about Moscow setting its sights on the Baltic countries, which used to be part of the Soviet empire but are now members of the EU and NATO.
Lithuania's Gabrielius Landsbergis echoed Séjourné. "There cannot be any 'buts.' We must draw red lines for Russia, not ourselves. No form of support for Ukraine can be excluded. We need to continue supporting Ukraine wherever it's most needed," he said.
Although Germany is by far the largest European military aid donor to Ukraine, it has come under fierce pressure for its reluctance to send Kyiv long range Taurus cruise missiles for fear of provoking Moscow. Kuleba took a subtle swipe at that reticence on Friday.
"I'm personally fed up with the ... fear of escalation," he said. "Our problem is that we still have people who think of this war in terms of the fear of escalation."
Kuleba continued: "What kind of escalation are you afraid of? What else has to happen to Ukraine for you to understand that this fear is useless? What do you expect Putin to do? 'Well I sent tanks but I did not send the missiles or troops, so maybe you'll be nicer to me than to others?' That's not how Putin thinks, that's not how he treats Europe."
👉 read the full article in Politico: https://www.politico.eu/article/france-finds-baltic-allies-in-its-spat-with-germany-over-ukraine-aid-sikorski-nato-macron-troops-war/
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