PARIS ( WNAM MONITORING: French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday warned allies against imposing limits on support for Ukraine, saying European security was at stake in Kyiv’s battle against the Russian invasion.
With Ukraine suffering military setbacks since the failure of a counteroffensive last summer, Macron had last month shocked some allies by not ruling out sending Western troops to Ukraine.
He said in an interview with French television aimed at clarifying his policy that the sending of ground forces was not on the agenda now but Europe had to keep “all options” open in case the war spread.
Macron’s comments came as he prepares on Friday to travel to Berlin for a summit on Ukraine with allies German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
He rammed home his insistence that Europe should not show weakness and do everything it could to stop Russia from winning a war that threatened the security of ordinary French and European citizens.
“If Russia wins this war, Europe’s credibility will be reduced to zero,” Macron said in the interview with French broadcasters TF1 and France 2 television.
For France “all options” are on the table in its support for Ukraine, Macron said.
“Should the situation get worse, we will be ready” to prevent a Russian victory, but he also said his country would “never go on the offensive” in the war.
“We will never take the initiative,” he said.
He warned that “if Russia wins, the life of the French will change. We will have no more security in Europe.”
