France qualifies Macron's controversial speech: soldiers who went to Ukraine would not engage in combat with Russia. The Government specifies the scope of the president's proposal, but maintains the so-called strategic ambiguity: “Nothing should be ruled out” The entire debate—and the blurred line on which Macron walks—moves between the desire to avoid turning the French and Europeans into belligerents, and the assertion that nothing is ruled out.

Macron, at a time of Western doubts about the war and uncertainty about the future of the United States' protective umbrella, wants to send a message.