French President Emmanuel Macron plans to create a coalition to send military instructors to Ukraine.
The newspaper Welt am Sonntag writes about this with reference to diplomatic sources in Brussels.
According to journalists, Britain, Poland, the Netherlands, the Baltic countries, Denmark and Sweden received an offer to create a coalition from France. At the same time, Paris ignored the federal government of Germany — Berlin did not receive the invitation, as the German authorities have repeatedly made it clear in recent weeks that the German military will not participate in the training mission on the territory of Ukraine. And although the United States also complained about refusing to participate in such a mission, Paris sent an invitation to Washington.
The governments of Germany, Italy and Spain fear that sending instructors could draw Western countries into the war. Hungary, which has repeatedly delayed EU aid to Ukraine and opposed sanctions against the Russian Federation, declared at a meeting of EU defense ministers at the end of May that Ukraine no longer "has a real chance" of winning the war.
The newspaper notes that there is a widespread opinion in EU diplomatic circles that from a military point of view there are good reasons to train Ukrainian soldiers on their territory. Then the training will be more adapted to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
- In February, at a meeting of European leaders in Paris, Macron said that in the future , sending NATO troops to Ukraine should not be ruled out.
- This statement caused lively discussions. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the leaders of the Alliance countries said that such a decision was not taken, and Russia said that such a move would be a declaration of war. Some NATO members came out in support of Macron. Finland and the Baltic countries urged the West not to reject the idea of deploying troops in Ukraine in case of a critical situation.
- Macronʼs statements came against the background of the delay in military aid to Kyiv from the US and the inability of other allies to quickly resolve the issue of ammunition for the Armed Forces. After that , Macronʼs rhetoric about Ukraine began to intensify. He called on Europe to prepare for various scenarios and stated that there are no limits in helping Ukraine from Paris. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, said that by sending NATO troops to Ukraine, Macron meant training. Kuleba noted that Ukraine has never asked its allies to send troops.
- On May 27, it became known that France will send its military instructors to Ukraine. On June 7 , Macron asked Joe Biden to take the same step. The US leader did not support the idea.