The French newspaper Le Monde has reported that European countries have resumed talks on the idea of sending troops or private contractors to Ukraine.
The report said the talks restarted on November 11 during a meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Earlier this year, Macron was pushing the idea of a Western troop deployment to Ukraine but received little support.
While leaks have revealed there are a small number of NATO special operations soldiers in Ukraine, including British soldiers who are helping fire British Storm Shadow missiles, what Macron had been calling for was a larger, public deployment possibly to train Ukrainian forces.
Back in June, Macron said he was “finalizing” a plan to send French soldiers to Ukraine to train Ukrainian troops. But he appeared to back down on the plan following repeated warnings from Russia that any French troops would be considered legitimate targets.
The Le Monde report said that the discussions on sending troops restarted in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory as European leaders who support the proxy war fear he will wind down US funding for Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the Le Monde report, saying it didn’t “correspond with reality” because there is little support in European capitals for sending troops to Ukraine. “There is no unanimity of opinion among Europeans on this matter but, of course, some hotheads appear,” he said.
