Ukraine is threatened with defeat in the war in the near future, French President Emmanuel Macron said during a private conversation at the Elysee Palace, participants in the conversation told Politico.
"Ukraine can fall very quickly," the French president said. According to him, now is the time for talks, not mobilisation, and this needs to change.
"We need to really take control of the troops, mobilise a lot more," another participant in the conversation quoted Macron as saying.
At the end of February, after a meeting with Western leaders on support for Ukraine, the French president said that "today there is no consensus on sending ground troops" to the country, but "nothing can be ruled out in the future".
Later, Macron met with the heads of French parties and discussed with them a scenario in which the country's troops could be deployed to Ukraine. In particular, he claimed that he could send soldiers to fight Russia if there was a breakthrough in the frontline towards Odesa or Kyiv.
The French authorities are also considering allowing special forces and military units to cross the border into Ukraine, sources told Le Monde. According to them, Paris believes that such a decision would pose a "strategic dilemma" for Russia.
At the same time, most NATO countries, including the United States, oppose sending troops to Ukraine. Only Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia supported the initiative. Poland has not ruled out this option.
Background. As a reminder, the Commander of the French Armed Forces said that the West's support for Ukraine may not be limited to the supply of weapons.