Emmanuel Macron insisted this Thursday that he cannot rule out sending troops to Ukraine to prevent a Russian victory, although it is an option that he would like to avoid at all costs. The French president said this in a joint interview with the television channels TF1 and France 2, broadcast live from the Elysée, on the eve of the meeting that he will hold in a few hours, on Friday, in Berlin, with the leaders of Germany and Poland. .
Interviewers asked Macron several times about the issue of troops, which caused such a furor when he mentioned it several weeks ago. "We are not sure about doing so," he replied. "We are not in this situation at the moment, but I do not exclude this option for the moment."
According to the French head of state, Europe cannot tie its hands in the face of the threat that a collapse of Ukraine would pose and that would have very serious consequences for the lives of the French and all Europeans. "It is an existential war for Europe and for France," he stressed. "We have put too many limits on our vocabulary," he continued. "We are not in escalation. We are not in war against Russia, but we cannot let it win." "Setting limits is opting for defeat," stressed the Elysée headline.
Macron warned that Ukraine has a limit on the number of men and weapons it can dedicate to the war, and that is why it must be helped and, perhaps, taken "other initiatives at the European level." One of them will be the manufacturing of weapons on Ukrainian soil, which will involve sending personnel. A few days ago the French Minister of Defense, Sébastien Lecornu, already spoke about training and demining teams.
Regarding Vladimir Putin's threats of a nuclear escalation, Macron considered that "it is not appropriate" to do so precisely for the person who possesses the atomic weapon. And in passing he remembered that France also has it and feels, therefore, protected. "Nuclear is not an instrument of destabilization or threat; it is an instrument of security," he added.
Just this Thursday, the LCI network offered an unusual report on Longue Island, next to Brest, in Brittany, which is the base of the four intercontinental nuclear missile launcher submarines that France has. This is a very secret military installation. It is significant that a television channel has been given access to show that the French deterrence arsenal is ready and fully operational. It can be a message to Russia in this very delicate situation. One of the four submarines is always patrolling in a secret place on the Globe and prepared to repel a possible attack on France.
