“Strategic ambiguity”
The President of the Republic believes this Tuesday, May 2 that we “should legitimately ask the question” of deploying soldiers on Ukrainian soil if the military situation were to continue to worsen.
Emmanuel Macron once again assumed the possibility of sending Western troops on the ground to Ukraine, if Russia were to continue its progression and Kyiv requested it, in an interview published this Thursday, May 2 by the British media The Economist. “If the Russians were to break through the front lines, if there was a Ukrainian request – which is not the case today – we should legitimately ask ourselves the question”estimated the French president to the British weekly. “To rule it out a priori is to fail to learn the lessons of the last two years”while NATO countries had initially ruled out sending tanks and planes to Ukraine before finally changing their minds, he added.
The French head of state created controversy at the end of February by asserting that sending Western troops to Ukrainian soil should not “be excluded” in the future. He explained that he wanted to recover from “strategic ambiguity” in the European response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in the name of a “startle” that he calls for. Most European countries, as well as the United States, however, clearly distanced themselves from his remarks, even if some have since taken a step in his direction.
“As I have saidI exclude nothing, because we have before us someone who excludes nothing”he reaffirmed in The Economist, in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We were undoubtedly too hesitant in formulating the limits of our action to someone who no longer has them and who is the aggressor”he continued.
“I have a clear strategic goal: Russia cannot win in Ukraine. If Russia wins in Ukraine, we will no longer have security in Europe. Who can claim that Russia will stop there? What security for other neighboring countries, Moldova, Romania, Poland, Lithuania and many others? And behind that, what credibility for the Europeans who would have spent billions, who would have said that it was the survival of the continent that was at stake and who would not have given themselves the means to stop Russia? So yes, we must not exclude anything”he insisted.
At the same time, the Russian army claimed this Thursday the capture of a new village in eastern Ukraine, continuing its slow advance in this area close to the town of Avdiivka, conquered by Moscow in February. On Sunday, Ukraine said it was withdrawing to the west of this locality.