As of: February 28, 2024, 7:01 a.m
By: Sarah El Sheimy
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Emmanuel Macron has not ruled out sending ground troops to Ukraine.
Now he had to put up with criticism from many quarters.
Berlin – According to dpa,
Gregor Gysi (Left Party) calls
French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement that he does not want to rule out sending ground troops to Ukraine “undiscussable”.
The left-wing veteran found clear words: “French President Macron can obviously no longer be saved.” The sending of ground troops by NATO states to Ukraine is tantamount to a third world war.
Macron had caused a stir since Monday evening with his statement at the conclusion of a Ukraine aid conference in Paris.
Within the states present there was “no consensus about officially sending ground troops,”
dpa
quoted the president as saying.
“But nothing can be ruled out in the dynamic.
We will do whatever it takes to ensure that Russia does not win this war.”
Gregor Gysi (The Left) speaks during a press conference in the Karl Liebknecht House.
© Annette Riedl/dpa
Chancellor Scholz also opposes Macron’s statement
According to AFP
, NATO
stated that it had “no plans” for “combat troops” in Ukraine, which a spokesman confirmed, according to
dpa
.
After all, the Russian government had warned about Macron's considerations.
Sending ground troops is “absolutely not in the interests” of Western countries, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
In France itself, the entire opposition spoke out against the president's statements.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) also rejected the French President's considerations about sending soldiers during a visit to Freiburg, as
dpa
reports.
Scholz said that this agreement at the Ukraine meeting was “a very, very good and very important step forward” and that there was agreement among those present in this regard.
Greens demand Taurus delivery instead of ground troops
Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) is also ruling out the deployment of German soldiers on site, as he emphasized during a visit to Vienna, according to
dpa
.
And the Greens also reject the French President's demands.
From the parliamentary group's point of view, the necessary support for Ukraine includes supplying weapons systems such as Taurus to Ukraine in addition to ammunition, said the co-chair of the Bundestag parliamentary group, Britta Haßelmann, in Leipzig.
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The parliamentary managing director of the Union parliamentary group, Thorsten Frei (CDU), agreed with the
rbb Inforadio
.
Germany has already delivered Taurus rockets to other countries without soldiers being deployed there.
However, sending troops to Ukraine is not up for debate.
Klingbeil: “No soldiers directly or indirectly”
SPD party leader Lars Klingbeil has also ruled out sending German soldiers to Ukraine.
“We take responsibility for ensuring that the war does not expand,” Klingbeil told
dpa
on Tuesday .
This means that Germany will not send “any soldiers directly or indirectly” to the war in Ukraine.
Parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich agreed with Klingbeil: “Statesmanship does not consist in pithy words, but is shown in concrete support and at the same time in the ability to consider the risks of escalation that are inherent in every war.”
Politicians in other EU countries have also firmly rejected Emmanuel Macron's statements.
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, according to
AFP
, that his country had no plans to send its troops to Ukraine.
In this respect, Poland agrees with its neighboring country, the Czech Republic.
Sending troops to Ukraine is also “not an issue” for Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
The governments of Spain and Italy joined.
France's foreign minister corrects Macron's NATO statement
The Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico had already made it clear before his departure for the Ukraine Supporters' Conference in Paris that the country would not send soldiers to Ukraine.
Great Britain was more cautious: there were “no plans for large-scale deployment.”
However, a spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pointed out the “small number of staff” who are already in the country and provide support in the medical field.
France's Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné has the statements of his President
adjusted a bit later.
New options for support must be considered, said Séjourné on Tuesday in the French National Assembly.
He particularly addressed cyber defense, the production of weapons in Ukraine and demining.
“Some of these actions may require a presence on Ukrainian territory without reaching the belligerent threshold,” Séjourné said.
(ses/dpa/AFP)