He tries to put out the fire.
Or, at least, to clarify his words.
The Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, affirmed on BFMTV this Friday that there was no question of “sending combat ground troops” to Ukraine.
This declaration comes a week after the remarks of Emmanuel Macron, who explained on February 26 that the sending of ground troops to Ukraine in the future should not "be excluded", in the name of a "strategic ambiguity ".
War in Ukraine: the hypothesis of "sending combat ground troops" is not "put on the table", says Sébastien Lecornu (@SebLecornu) pic.twitter.com/sgv4vSFNBa
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) March 8, 2024
“It is 11 p.m. at the Élysée” when the head of state responded to a question “on the declarations of the Slovenian leader (…).
And he has this formula:
It is not consensual, but nothing should be excluded in principle
”, recalled Sébastien Lecornu, referring to “a long-term story” and a sentence which was “largely taken out of context”.
Moreover, the Head of State, who, according to his minister, “did not forbid any taboos”, had made it clear that this hypothesis was not consensual, defended the Minister of the Armed Forces.
Rather “patterns of military presence”
“Hypotheses were clearly put on the table, not combat ground troops, as may have been said here and there, since precisely during this press conference, the president said that there was no cobelligerence”, insisted Sébastien Lecornu, who rather refers to “patterns of military presence”.
The latter also assured that France had proposed to “produce and maintain weapons on Ukrainian soil”, with “French, European factories” on Ukrainian soil to “get closer to the front line”.
A proposal which “was the subject of consensus”, he assured on BFMTV this Friday.
>> More information to follow