Earlier, European military heavyweights Germany and Poland affirmed that they would not be sending troops to Ukraine, after reports that some Western countries may be considering doing so as the war with Russia enters its third year.
The White House said that the United States would not send troops to fight in Ukraine. The comments from the White House came after French President Emmanuel Macron refused to rule out the dispatch of Western forces. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement: “President Biden has been clear that the US will not send troops to fight in Ukraine.” Watson added that Biden believes the “path to victory” is for Congress to pass blocked military aid “so Ukrainian troops have the weapons and ammunition they need to defend themselves” against Russian invasion
Earlier, European military heavyweights Germany and Poland affirmed that they would not be sending troops to Ukraine, after reports that some Western countries may be considering doing so as the war with Russia enters its third year.
The head of NATO also said the U.S.-led military alliance has no plans to send troops to Ukraine, after other central European leaders confirmed that they too would not be providing soldiers.
The Kremlin, meanwhile, warned that a direct conflict between NATO and Russia would be inevitable if the alliance sends combat troops. “In this case, we need to talk not about probability, but about the inevitability (of conflict),” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Moscow’s warning came a day after French President Emmanuel Macron said that sending in Western ground troops should not be “ruled out” in the future, after hosting a conference of top officials from more than 20 of Ukraine’s Western backers.
While talks of deploying troops in Ukraine are only a “discussion” at this stage, “the French president’s statement clearly takes the discussion to another level,” he added, further telling AFP that “this is a good sign”.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin has warned confrontation with NATO is inevitable if the alliance deploys troops to the conflict, a major step that the West has so far avoided.
NATO as an alliance provides Ukraine only non-lethal aid and support like medical supplies, uniforms and winter equipment, but some members send weapons and ammunition of their own accord, bilaterally or in groups, AP reports.
A decision to send troops and keep them deployed long term would require the kind of transport and logistics capabilities that only countries like the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and possibly Italy, Poland or Spain could muster.