Monday evening, Emmanuel Macron raised his voice. Two years after the start of the war in Ukraine, the French president said he would not “exclude the sending of ground troops”.
“There is no consensus today to send ground troops in an official, assumed and endorsed manner. But dynamically, nothing must be excluded,” Emmanuel Macron declared Monday evening after a international conference in support of Ukraine which was held in Paris. And the French head of state added: “We will do everything necessary to ensure that Russia cannot win this war.” Two years after the start of the war in Ukraine, this announcement marked a clear shift in the position of France, and with it the West, on the conflict. Until then, there had never been any question of intervening by sending troops.
Comments which, however, provoked strong reactions from French and Western politicians. In the process, London, Madrid, Berlin, Stockholm, and even Rome quickly distanced themselves. A choice which, however, did not seem to call into question Paris’ position. On RTL airwaves on Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said that “we cannot rule out anything in a war that is taking place in the heart of Europe and at the gates of the European Union.” And the tenant of Matignon added: “We cannot accept that an authoritarian country can take control of a democratic country by force.”
Later in the day, Gabriel Attal again maintained this position while Marine Le Pen attacked him head-on in the National Assembly. While the former candidate of the National Rally for the 2022 presidential election estimated in the hemicycle that “Emmanuel Macron has taken a further step towards cobelligerence”, the Prime Minister retorted that “if we accept, if we resign ourselves, if we look away, no one knows where Russia will stop.” Comments nevertheless tempered by the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs. “Some of these actions [of support for Ukraine that Westerners should consider, editor’s note.] could require a presence on Ukrainian territory without crossing the threshold of belligerence,” Stéphane Séjourné declared to the National Assembly.
At the end of the day, while tension was still palpable in France, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, in turn reacted to Emmanuel Macron’s comments, immediately ruling out any sending of American troops to Ukraine . “President Biden has been clear that the United States will not send soldiers to fight in Ukraine,” declared the spokesperson for the American National Security Council, adding that American support will be limited to military aid blocked by Congress.