Russia Warns Of “Inevitability” Of War With NATO After Talks About Troops In Ukraine
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Moscow on Tuesday warned Ukraine’s allies that sending troops to fight in Ukraine would lead to the “inevitability” of war between Russia and the NATO military alliance.
The announcement came after France said that “nothing,” including sending Western forces to fight on the Ukrainians’ side, should be ruled out to prevent a Russian victory in Ukraine.
After a summit of continental leaders in Paris on February 26, French President Emmanuel Macron said there was a “broad consensus to do more and quicker” for Ukraine.
He claimed that participants agreed to create a coalition to supply Ukraine with medium- and long-range missiles and bombs to back Kyiv’s efforts to stave off Russia’s invasion.
Macron told a news conference that “no consensus” existed on the sending of European ground troops to Ukraine but added, “Nothing should be excluded to achieve our objective. Russia cannot win that war.”
Asked about Macron’s remark, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that “the very fact of discussing the possibility of sending certain contingents to Ukraine from NATO countries is a very important new element.”
He added, “We would need to talk not about the probability but about the inevitability [of a direct conflict between Russia and NATO].”
GROUND TROOPS
The threats of ground troops worry several European countries, including Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orbán maintains close ties with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
He made clear his country won’t send weapons to Ukraine. “Hungary’s stance is clear: we shall not send weapons to Ukraine, with or without troops, but are ready to provide any other aid,” he said.
Orbán spoke in Prague, where the leaders of the Visegrad Group, comprising Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Poland, gathered to talk about sensitive issues, including the war.
Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia agreed with Orbán, saying his country “will give all aid needed to Ukraine, except for weapons and ammunition.”
Petr Fiala of Czechia and Donald Tusk of Poland said they would be ready to continue to provide weapons and ammunition.
Yet despite the divisions on sending troops, several countries are already preparing for a broader armed conflict. Countries where the draft ended after the supposed end of the Cold War are talking about reintroducing it.
Yet the United States said it had “no plans” to send ground troops to Ukraine, while Germany, Britain, Spain, Poland, and the Czech Republic distanced themselves from any suggestion they might commit ground troops to the fight.
NO SOLDIERS
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who attended the Paris gathering, told journalists that what has been agreed among the allies is “that there will be no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent there by European states or NATO states.”
In Prague, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and his visiting Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk, said their governments “were not contemplating” such a move.
“I am convinced that we should develop the paths of support that we embarked on after Russia’s aggression,” Fiala told a news conference alongside Tusk.
“I believe we don’t need to open other methods or ways,” he added. “Poland does not plan to send its troops to the territory of Ukraine,” Tusk stressed.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said that “NATO allies are providing unprecedented support to Ukraine, but there are “no plans for NATO combat troops on the ground in Ukraine.”
Seeking to clarify Macron’s remarks, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said the president had in mind sending troops for “specific tasks such as helping on mine clearance, production of weapons on site, and cyber defense.”
Worthy News, citing a well-informed U.S. security source, reported earlier there had been special U.S. forces and other NATO allies in Ukraine.
Brussels and Washington did not confirm the presence of these forces publicly to avoid further provoking Russia, Worthy News learned.
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