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France 24
France 24
Politics
FRANCE 24

PM Attal says France will do 'whatever it takes' to thwart Russia in Ukraine

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal delivers a speech during a press conference at the Hotel Matignon in Paris, France on February 1, 2024. © Julien De Rosa, AFP

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said Tuesday that nothing was off the table in Western efforts to prevent a Russian victory in Ukraine.

Speaking a day after President Emmanuel Macron said that sending Western ground troops was not excluded, Attal said that "you can't rule anything out in a war".

This declaration also came less than two weeks after France signed a security pact with Ukraine, pledging "up to €3 billion" in additional military aid.

Attal told the RTL broadcaster that there was "no consensus" on any "official" deployment of ground troops.

"But no dynamic can be ruled out. We will do whatever it takes to ensure that Russia cannot win this war," he said, using the same words Macron had a day earlier.

Macron, after hosting a meeting of two dozen European leaders to discuss Ukraine, on Monday painted a grim picture of a Russia whose positions he said were "hardening" both at home and on the battlefield.

"We are convinced that the defeat of Russia is indispensable to security and stability in Europe," he said.

He refused to say more about France's position, citing the need for "strategic ambiguity" but said the issue of Western troops in Ukraine was mentioned among the "options". 

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

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