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Options for the participation of the French military contingent in Ukraine may be different. The founder of the “Close the sky over Ukraine” charity foundation, Lieutenant General Igor Romanenko, spoke about this on the FREEDOM TV channel.
“The options may be different. French President Macron’s proposal outlines a number of these options. For example, he spoke out in defense of Odesa or Kyiv. Also actions in the direction of a breakthrough, if somewhere the Russians manage to accomplish this. To more modest options – for example, servicing French equipment. This will largely depend on the state of affairs at the front, and, of course, the determination of the French authorities, President Macron, in deploying this assistance,” Romanenko listed.
Now the allies are actively discussing Macron’s proposal to introduce a Western military contingent into Ukraine.
“Ukraine supports this approach. But at the same time, our President Zelenskyy has repeatedly said that transfer more and faster weapons, and we ourselves will cope with this situation. But we see that the situation at the front is difficult, and therefore views on such approaches, both from the President of France, the leaders of our other allies, and our military-political leadership, may change,” the expert noted.
Romanenko believes that the first assessment period could be the end of May, June – for which Russia has planned its new offensive at the front. And the results of the battles will show how necessary additional actions by the allies are, since Macron stated that one of the reasons for the introduction of French troops could be a breakthrough by the Russian Army of the Ukrainian front.
“From a military point of view, we are talking about breaking through the enemy several tens of kilometers. That’s the minimum. And with further access to the so-called operational space, which changed the operational and even, perhaps, strategic situation. But the Ukrainian Defense Forces do not allow this, despite the severity of combat operations in certain directions, such as Bakhmut and Avdiivka,” noted the lieutenant general.
Another condition for the deployment of French troops, which Macron outlined, is Kyiv’s appeal to Paris on this matter. Romanenko said that such requests are documented in a document that will most likely be confidential.
“But in any case, the document that can be sent to the French side should briefly describe the situation, why the Ukrainian leadership came to this, and formulate a clear position on who our side wants to see. Therefore, it is important how it is worded. But it is fundamentally important for the allies to make a decision on this kind of action, because not everyone supports Macron’s initiative,” the expert concluded.
As previously reported, French President Emmanuel Macron, in an interview with The Economist on May 2, named two conditions under which Western countries could send their troops to Ukraine: a breakthrough of the front by Russian forces and a request from Kyiv for help. Macron said that the Russian Federation, having launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, has completely broken with international law and order, becoming a threat to European security.
This is not the first statement by the French leader about the possible introduction of foreign troops into Ukrainian territory. And it suggests that NATO is really considering this possibility.
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