Time-saving solution for Europe: Kuleba comments on Macron’s plan for Western troops in Ukraine

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba noted that the statement of the French leader Emmanuel Macron provoked a discussion that "will save much time for Europe" to realize that more needs to be done to support Ukraine and Europe.

Kuleba said this in an interview with ELTA, according to Delfi.

He said that if the European Union or NATO allies had conducted these discussions previously, Ukraine wouldn't have been aware since they are internal.

"Did this message from President Macron come as a surprise to us? No. Do we think Paris is the first European capital to publicly acknowledge the obvious? Yes, I think so," the minister said.

Kuleba says that when Macron recently spoke with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris, he heard the French president say:

"We have to do it for you and ourselves."

According to the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Macron has an understanding that is still lacking in some European capitals.

"Aid to Ukraine is not charity, but saving the lives of our citizens, saving large amounts of money that would otherwise have to be spent on our defense. No matter how much it costs to help another country defend itself, it is much more expensive to defend ourselves," he said.

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For the second week in Europe, Macron's high-profile statement about the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine is being discussed. After all, the French leader discussed sending his troops to Ukraine at a meeting he convened of Ukraine's partner countries in Paris on February 26.

"But we cannot rule anything out. We will do everything we have to so that Russia cannot win this war," Macron said.

Despite this, several other NATO member countries have already stated that they are not considering sending their troops to Ukraine. This was said in the White House of the USA, Germany, Great Britain, Canada, Spain, the Czech Republic, Poland, etc.

Subsequently, French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné noted that France could send its soldiers to Ukraine to help with various tasks but not to participate in hostilities.

France initiated the creation of an alliance of countries open to the potential introduction of Western troops into Ukraine. In the process, Paris deepened its conflict with Berlin, which behaved more cautiously, Politico wrote.

The spokesman of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmytro Peskov, said that if NATO troops are sent to Ukraine, "we will have to talk not about the probability, but about the inevitability of a direct confrontation between Russia and the Alliance."