On Monday, Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said France was planning to send instructors to Ukraine to train Ukrainian troops, a step that would mark a significant escalation of NATO involvement in the proxy war.
“I am pleased to welcome France’s initiative to send instructors to Ukraine to train Ukrainian servicemen,” Syrskyi wrote on Telegram after speaking with French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, according to Reuters.
“I have already signed the documents that will enable the first French instructors to visit our training centers shortly and familiarize themselves with their infrastructure and personnel,” he added.
When asked about Syrskyi’s comments, the French Defense Ministry acknowledged that the issue of sending troops to Ukraine for training was being discussed but gave no indication on whether a deployment was imminent.
“As already mentioned several times, training on Ukrainian soil is one of the projects discussed since the conference on support for Ukraine convened by the President of the Republic on February 26,” the French Defense Ministry said. “Like all the projects discussed at that time, this track continues to be the subject of work with the Ukrainians, in particular to understand their exact needs.”
For months, French President Emmanuel Macron has entertained the possibility of deploying troops to Ukraine, and other NATO members have expressed support for the idea of a training mission, including Estonia and Lithuania, despite the risk of provoking a direct NATO-Russia war.
The New York Times recently reported that Ukraine had asked NATO to deploy troops to its territory to train 150,000 fresh recruits that it’s hoping to mobilize. The report said NATO countries were “inching closer” to obliging the request.
All the talk about the potential deployment has highlighted the fact that there is already a small, unofficial presence of NATO special operations forces inside Ukraine. However, what is being discussed now would likely be a much larger official deployment, and any NATO troops would be at risk of being targeted by Russia.
My, my, my, do the French not remember being kicked out of Vietnam?
Every day is the Present Day for France, US, UK and the rest of the freaking west…!
That Neoconservative dogma that denies causal relationships has spread like a virus everywhere, even throughout the governments of the West. “All events just come out of the blue for no discernable reason, except for what we say.” So if Russia has had enough of this crap and escalates, it can be said that he did it as a further continuation of his Insane Desire to Take Over Europe. Not just to reestablish the USSR, as they used to say. (eye roll)
At the moment they are more upset by being kicked out of Africa. Where else they can provide the fuel for their nuclear power stations from?
They could buy the Uranium the USA isn’t buying from the Russian Federat….ohhhhhh. Riiiiight.
I wonder how many veterans of Dien Bien Phu remain with us and what are their thoughts on this turn of events.
…As if that’s gonna make any difference…!
“any NATO troops would be at risk of being targeted by Russia.”
It is not just a “risk” when the Russians have bluntly promised to do their best to target them, and already have hit some.
If you need Estonia and Lithuania to train you, then what have you been doing with your training budget for 34 years?
Dumb Europeans. Won’t be a good look to the civilian population.
They are dumb but we’re not smarter. We’re the same, except somehow they still have health care and we don’t. But it’s not going to be long before we all die. Go figure.
There already have been there but now they are making public.
How did that go the last time France sent an troops to fight Russia?
“The French themselves lost 70,000 in action and 120,000 wounded, as against the non-French contingents’ 30,000 and 60,000. Russian casualties have been estimated at 200,000 killed, 50,000 dispersed or deserting, and 150,000 wounded.”
Ahhh, but it’s May this time ! The French will be in & out of Ukraine before winter. And Ukraine probably observes Orthodox Winter, which probably doesn’t start until January 10th.
There is no winter when nuclear heating happens. Nuclear winter comes later.
And as Scott Ritter likes to say, “And then they’ll die.” They’re not “at risk” of being targeted by Russia, they WILL be targeted by Russia. Even if they’re not, they’ll die when the troops being trained are targeted by Russia. People forget Russia’s goal is to eliminate the Ukrainian military in its entirety prior to eliminating the Ukrainian government in its entirety.
I’m with Macron. I’m also tired of waiting to see how well the French soldiers do under tactical nuclear attacks. ……(Sarcasm, you guys have no sense of humor anymore and don’t tell me you’re not tired of waiting too! I don’t believe you.)
Like watching a prize-fight where all they do is exchange jabs, … frustration city, … at least for the West. So you have to ask yourself, given Macron considers himself a Big Thinker, “where’s the net?” He’s got to have something in mind … not just being preposterous. And in that vein, … something epochal, maybe? … given the state of play in the West, like in Yeats’ poem, … all the traditional fabric being tattered & torn, full of self-doubt and psycho-social paralysis … socia-economic problems structurally intractable … politics & go’t on the verge of falling into the hands of populist fools and hucksters?? Time to throw a spanner into the machine…??
“Macron big thinker”. LOL. Putin seems to have more thinking going on in his toe.
… as in Megalo, little Napolean, in the saddle of history with reins in hand.
…And jerkin’ his dong with the other.
According to Ukraine NATO tactics have failed on the battlefield.
Not to play off the old trope (I have enough French ancestry to do so legally, so I will) but, I think the Ukrainians could do with expert advice on retreating and surrendering.
i recall that Bush jr referred to the French as “surrender monkeys” because they were the only country who did not sign on to his coalition of the willing.
he (Bush) actually tried to change the name of french fries to freedom fries.
way to go uncle sam, way to go.
GWB never had an original thought in his life. He was building on the popular idea that the French were cowards because of their fairly quick capitulation to the Germans at the start of WWII.
Nothing beats Tommy Franks and Freedom Fries!
The French are good at making clothing and bags. It should be easy for the French to make enough body bags for each and every military member sent to Ukraine.
Unfortunately for the West, there are still lots of Ukrainians who are not keen on joining NATO and will cooperate in identifying where those foreign advisors, whose job is to operate highly sophisticated NATO weapons, hang out.
Better visit Paris again real soon before the Russkies do something rash.
Like have a Parade under the Arc d Triomphe.
NATO countries were “inching closer” to obliging the request.
And WW3.
Ukraine has attacked two Russian strategic early warning radar sites over the last few days. This is insanity. If the French send troops we are in dire straits. By we I mean humanity.
100%
They showed such success in Africa.