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By Ellie Cook
Senior Defense Reporter
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Western troops could be sent to Ukraine, French leader Emmanuel Macron has said, as Russia pushes on with offensives at several points along the front lines in Ukraine and Kyiv contends with deep anxieties over future military aid.
"Nothing should be excluded," the French President said, following a gathering of Ukraine's backers in Paris on Monday. "There is no consensus at this stage" about putting Western boots on the ground, he added.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico had suggested earlier on Monday that "a number of NATO and EU member states are considering that they will send their troops to Ukraine on a bilateral basis." He did not offer many details, saying he could not specify why the troops would be sent and what mission they would have.
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Western countries, although supplying billions of dollars in military aid to Kyiv, have batted away the idea of sending troops, a move that would draw Ukraine's supporters more directly into a confrontation with Russia.
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With the war now into its third year, Ukraine is contending with Russian pushes in the northeast and in the south after Moscow took control of the Donetsk city of Avdiivka, a key strategic settlement with significant symbolic value, earlier this month. Ukraine said this week that it had withdrawn from Lastochkyne, a village west of Avdiivka, to "prevent the enemy from advancing further" west.
Ukraine is struggling to drum up new recruits against a much larger Russian force, and although new aid packages have trickled in from its European allies, renewed support from Kyiv's biggest backer, the U.S. has stalled in Congress. Ukraine is also feeling the bite of ammunition shortages, and the country's defense minister, Rustem Umerov, said on Sunday that half of Western-committed aid to Ukraine does not arrive on time.
"Whenever a commitment doesn't come on time, we lose people, we lose territory," he added.
Shortly after Moscow's troops crossed over into Ukraine under Russia's full-scale invasion, U.S. President Joe Biden said: "Our forces are not and will not be engaged in a conflict with Russia in Ukraine."
The U.S. sent thousands of troops to Europe to bolster its presence on the continent following the invasion, but Washington has stressed its forces are not fighting Russia on Ukrainian soil.
Asked about Fico's comments, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said Prague "certainly is not preparing to send any soldiers to Ukraine, nobody has to worry about that," according to Reuters.
The Élysée Palace said in a readout following Monday's meeting in Paris that Kyiv's supporters had agreed to focus on cyber defense, building up weapons production in Ukraine, defending countries such as Moldova that are "threatened by the Russian offensive in Ukraine," supporting Ukraine's security along its western border with Moscow-allied Belarus, and the clearing of mines.
Update 2/27/2024 at 4:40 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
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