Stoltenberg: NATO has no plans to send troops to Ukraine
NATO Secretary General says alliance provides "unprecedented support" to Ukraine Ukraine, but there are no plans to deploy troops in the country
NATO has no plans to send combat troops to Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told the Associated Press on Tuesday (27 February) amid reports that some Western powers are considering sending troops to the embattled country.
He noted that NATO allies have been providing "unprecedented support" Ukraine since 2014, which has been stepped up since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
"But there are no plans to deploy NATO combat troops on the territory of Ukraine," Stoltenberg assured.
Following the summit of Western countries in Paris on 26 February, French President Emmanuel Macron suggested that Western ground forces could be deployed in Ukraine. "Today, there is no consensus on officially sending ground troops to Ukraine, but in a dynamic development, nothing can be ruled out," Macron said.
Earlier, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that some Western countries are considering sending their troops to Ukraine on the basis of bilateral agreements.
According to him, these are "several NATO and EU member states". Fico did not specify which countries, but he said that sending Slovak troops there was impossible.
Other countries have not yet supported Macron's position. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz categorically rejected the idea of sending troops from NATO and the EU to Ukraine.
"There will be no ground troops on Ukrainian soil, no soldiers sent there by European states or NATO countries," Scholz told reporters in Freiburg on Tuesday.
The UK has also announced that it has no plans to deploy troops in Ukraine.
"Apart from a small number of personnel in the country to support the Ukrainian armed forces, we have no plans for a large-scale deployment," British Prime Minister's spokesman Rishi Sunak told reporters.
At the same time, he reminded that a large number of Ukrainian servicemen are being trained in the UK.
Czech Prime Minister Peter Fiala and his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk also ruled out their countries sending troops to Ukraine. A similar position was expressed by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and the office of Italian Prime Minister Giorgi Meloni.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that if NATO troops appear on the territory of Ukraine, a conflict between Russia and the alliance will be inevitable. According to him, these countries should "be aware, ask themselves whether this is in their interests, as well as the interests of their citizens."
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