French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent remarks about not ruling out sending the West’s ground troops to fight in the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine triggered a barrage of warnings about the dangers this sort of rhetoric can generate. A White House official was quoted as denying any plans to send either US or NATO troops to Ukraine.
Emmanuel Macron’s belligerent statement about possibly deploying NATO troops in Ukraine is “mostly posturing, Mikael Valtersson said, a former defense politician and chief of staff with Sweden Democrats.
However, "even posturing can take on a life on its own and start a dangerous process down a slippery slope,” he warned. The pundit suggested that the French president was using “the paralysis within the US political system about support for Ukraine” to try and replace America as the leading pro-Kiev power in the EU.
“NATO is partially incapacitated, especially in regards to Ukraine… The second tier nations now try to fill the empty space created,” Valtersson said.
“Since NATO is out of the question because they only function as a defensive organization, and any nation could veto decisions, and the EU doesn't have any military, there must be individual countries who would participate. Macron probably means the countries that have recently signed security treaties with Ukraine, for example, France, [the] UK, Germany, Italy, etc. He might also want to include other countries that seem likely to sign security agreements with Ukraine, as some East and North European countries, he added.
“Even if this suggestion probably is posturing, it opens up a door to talk about direct Western military involvement in Ukraine,” warned the former officer of Swedish Armed Forces/Air Defence. The outcome could be “a de facto declaration of war” and, potentially, “a full scale military conflict between Russia and several European countries.”
As Paris hosted a meeting of some 20 European leaders to discuss the situation in Ukraine on Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron served up some choice statements on Tuesday, sending chills down the spines of many politicians in his own country.
“We are convinced that the defeat of Russia is indispensable to security and stability in Europe,” Macron told reporters “There’s no consensus today to send in an official, endorsed manner troops on the ground. But in terms of dynamics, nothing can be ruled out,” he said.
'Flexing Paper Muscles'
Emmanuel Macron’s recent “pseudo-martial” remarks about “not ruling” out sending Western troops to fight in Ukraine cannot be taken seriously, ex-colonel of the French Special Forces Task Group under NATO command in Kosovo, Jacques Hogard said.
The French President’s “megalomania” seems to be getting the better of reason, said Hogard, who wondered if the French leader was “going crazy!” Macron must be aware that it is "game over" for Zelensky's armed forces, even though they were supported by NATO, and in particular by "certain Western European countries vassalized by the United States,” Hogard pointed out.
Even if the French leader is under the delusion that he is “showing off his muscles,” they are those of "a paper puppet,” the pundit added.
When it comes to sending “allied” troops to Ukraine, "Macron is dreaming," emphasized the expert who served 26 years in the French Army as an airborne officer in the Foreign Legion and the Special Forces
He pointed out why, in his opinion, this was the case. Firstly, "the US and NATO don’t want to openly enter war, preferring to act through proxies." Secondly, “European governments are extremely divided on this issue,” and “unity of the EU is in reality only an illusion.”
Furthermore, “the French army is today a ‘sample’ army, suitable for occasional military interventions, but totally undersized in terms of personnel, equipment and ammunition to embark on a high-intensity war adventure.”
Video Ukraine’s scarce Western-supplied hardware destroyed
The Russian military has destroyed several rare examples of Ukraine’s Western-supplied military hardware, including a Norwegian-made NASAMS anti-aircraft system and a Swedish-made Archer self-propelled howitzer, according to new footage released online.
Multiple aerial videos showing suicide drone and artillery strikes on Ukraine’s military hardware have emerged over the past few days, as Russian troops continue their advance in Donbass. The push comes days after the liberation of the key town of Avdeevka, as well as other locations along the conflict frontline.
The destruction of the NASAMS system was confirmed by the Russian Defense Ministry on Monday, which stated that the launcher had been destroyed in the Zaporozhye Region. While the military did not provide any details, footage of the strike which emerged earlier in the day indicated the launcher was likely hit by a guided projectile fired by a Russian Tornado-S multiple rocket launcher system.
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