NATO quickly backs off on sending troops to Ukraine

NATO has no plans to deploy troops on the Ukrainian territory, Jens Stoltenberg said. French President Emmanuel Macron earlier did not rule out a possibility to send Western military forces there. Moscow responded by saying that a conflict between Russia and the alliance would be inevitable in this case.

NATO has no plans to send combat troops to Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told The Associated Press amid reports about alleged plans of a number of NATO member states to deploy their ground forces in the conflict zone.

NATO allies have been providing unprecedented support to Ukraine since 2014, he said. This assistance has become much larger since the outbreak of the conflict in 2022, Stoltenberg noted.

Other countries have not yet supported Macron's suggestion.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the issue of sending troops was "not on the agenda.” The following officials also ruled out such an opportunity:

• Deputy head of the Polish Ministry of Defense Cezary Tomczyk,
• Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson,
• Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala,
• Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

The day before, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that some Western countries were thinking about sending troops to Ukraine on the basis of bilateral agreements. At the same time, he strongly refused to send the Slovak military there.