Just days after French President Emmanuel Macron provoked a backlash among allies by declaring he could not rule out sending Western troops to Ukraine, a senior minister has doubled down on the message, saying Europe must thwart Vladimir Putin before he presses his military drive further into Europe. “Vladimir Putin will not stop in Ukraine, so this is the reason why we need to make him fail,” Jean-Noël Barrot, the newly appointed French Minister Delegate for Europe told FRANCE 24.
Macron blindsided many allies late last month when, speaking after a Ukraine-focused meeting of European leaders in Paris, he said all options should be on the table if Europe was serious about achieving its goal of helping Ukraine win the war – even if that meant sending European troops to bolster Kyiv’s hard-pressed forces. Several allies, including the US, UK, Germany and Poland, bristled at the unexpected statement. They said they feared a dangerous escalation with Russia of the kind they have sought to avoid since Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. Macron has since sought to clarify his remarks, telling journalists during a visit to Prague this week that there will be no French troops in Ukraine “in the near future”.
