- The French president talked about sending Western forces to Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz scolded him
- Academician Denkov assures: No one asked for troops
Fears of a third world war rose again after the French president on Monday surprisingly hinted at sending Western troops to help Ukraine.
Russia immediately responded that this would now be a global conflict, and European leaders jumped in to quell the tension.
Emmanuel Macron’s speech abruptly reversed the previously cautious stance of Kiev’s Western allies. NATO has always avoided the topic of military intervention so as not to provoke Russia, which has nuclear weapons. And Macron was almost instantly corrected by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“Today (Monday – BA) there is no consensus on sending ground troops in an official, accepted and approved manner. In the long term, however, nothing should be ruled out.
We will do everything necessary to ensure that Russia cannot win this war.”
said the French president, who convened an international conference in support of Ukraine in Paris. About 20 European leaders and experts attended the forum.
Macron has not announced which countries support an option for the involvement of NATO troops in Ukraine.
In Paris, Bulgaria was represented by the Minister of Defense Todor Tagarev. Throughout the day on Tuesday, he remained silent on what positions he defended. He only published his photos from the Elysée Palace.
The Ministry of Defense did not respond to “24 Chasa”‘s question about his participation in the conference, and the minister himself did not answer his phone. Only late in the evening did he appear at a briefing with PP leader Kiril Petkov to announce: “The Bulgarian position is clear and categorical –
we have no intention of sending Bulgarian soldiers
in Ukraine. We are witnessing very large interpretations right now.”
While Tagarev was conspicuously absent, Macron’s speech became a leading topic for politicians in Bulgaria.
“Sending NATO troops to Ukraine means a global conflict,” President Rumen Radev warned. According to him, the strategy of giving more, more and more weapons is clearly not working. The head of state called on the European leaders to show enough sense and a very balanced approach in supporting Kiev, so that “we do not reach an extraordinary escalation, we do not reach the risk of a third world war and a nuclear conflict”. And BSP leader Kornelia Ninova declared against “any – even possible, decision to provide soldiers and manpower in Ukraine”. “Greetings from the Elysée Palace,” Todor Tagarev wrote on Facebook and announced his participation in Macron’s meeting.
“Defence Minister Tagarev waved us off at Versailles.” The European Union has no intention of sending troops to Ukraine”, was the comment of GERB leader Boyko Borisov.
The position of our country had to be explained by Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov instead of Defense Minister Todor Tagarev.
“I want to say absolutely categorically that
in no way did anyone raise the question
to send troops to Ukraine. President Zelensky himself has never raised such a question, and even if someone had raised it, I will say what I have always said – Bulgarian troops will not go there,” Denkov said on Tuesday evening.
On the day of the talks convened by Macron in the French capital, Denkov himself visited Kyiv and spoke with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Speaking after the forum in Paris, President Macron gave very few details about what Western forces he had in mind and why they might be sent to Ukraine. Two years after the start of the war, it was the first time anyone had so openly raised such a possibility.
After Macron, the French Prime Minister Gabriel Atal admitted that the military could go to the front. In his words, such a possibility cannot be ruled out, considering that the conflict is developing “at the doors of the European Union”.
France allows the presence of Western military personnel on Ukrainian territory to provide some types of assistance, but this presence does not imply their participation in the conflict, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejournet said before the parliament of his country. He
clarified that he was talking about demining, cyber threats, weapons production
on local soil – on the territory of Ukraine.
The topic was raised publicly for the first time by Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, who is considered a pro-Russian politician in Europe. On Monday, he revealed that a document with restricted access ahead of the meeting in the French capital suggested “that a number of NATO and EU member states are considering sending troops to Ukraine on a bilateral basis”.
In recent months, Kiev has begun to negotiate such
bilateral defense cooperation agreements and
A security agreement has already been signed with Canada.
Bulgaria has not yet signed such an agreement with Ukraine, there is no information that it has been discussed.
Macron’s speech provoked a furious response from Moscow, which directly threatened the outbreak of a third world war.
“If this happens (the sending of Western troops), we will have to talk not about the probability, but about the inevitability of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO. A number of countries that participated in this event, which took place in Paris, maintain a fairly sober assessment of the potential dangers of such action and the potential dangers of direct participation in a hot conflict, participation already on the battlefield. This, of course, is absolutely not in the interest of these countries – and especially of their citizens, they should realize this”, warned the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov.
Russian senator Sergei Tsekov accused Macron of taking a serious step towards starting a world war.
Macron’s words caused quick reactions among the other EU and NATO leaders as well.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz explained that the leaders in Paris agreed that “everyone should do more for Ukraine.” But he added that “one thing is clear:
there will be no ground troops
from European countries or NATO”. In recent months, Germany has been actively sending arms to Ukraine.
During a joint press conference on Tuesday, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk denied any plans to send troops to support Kiev. The same position was expressed by Sweden and Hungary, which is known for its proximity to Moscow.
Even the secretary general of the alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, explained that NATO forces would not join the war. “No plans,” he snapped. The White House, Britain, Italy and Spain also denied discussing such ideas.
And while Western leaders did not criticize Macron for his speech, in France the opposition rose up against him.
“I don’t know if anyone realizes the seriousness of such a statement. Emmanuel
Macron is playing military leader,
but he talks so casually about our children’s lives. The stake is peace or war in our country,” announced Marine Le Pen from the far-right National Movement. Two years ago, Le Pen was found to have received direct funding from Russia. And far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon expressed a position that sending units to Ukraine would “make us warmongers.”
The French president, who had long called for
“not to humiliate Russia”,
now he is one of the staunchest defenders of support for Kyiv, at least in words, commented media in France.
Macron also said the conference participants agreed to speed up efforts to send more ammunition to depleted Ukrainian warehouses, increase air defense aid and launch a new initiative to provide Kiev with more medium- and long-range missiles range
The French president insisted that Europe cannot rely exclusively on American support, which Europeans worry could be threatened by the re-election of Donald Trump. “We are very fortunate that the United States is so engaged today,” he declared. And he added that “this is a European war”.
“Should we delegate our future to the American voter?” Macron asked. – “The answer is no, whatever their vote. We must not wait to find out what the result is, we must decide now.”
PHOTO: Reuters
Bulgaria sold 120,000 shells to Kiev
Ukraine bought 120,000 shells from Bulgaria. These are stocks of 122 mm ammunition. The news was announced by the General of the German Army Christian Freuding to “Spiegel”.
Gen. Freuding leads a team to buy ammunition for Ukraine.
“For 2024 alone, the federal government is providing €7 billion in arms aid. In recent weeks, the German team discovered in Bulgaria a stockpile of 122 mm ammunition that can be fired from howitzers of Soviet design. “Ukraine personnel immediately purchased 120,000 shells, which must now be delivered to Ukraine as quickly as possible,” Spiegel reports.
The news in the German press comes only a day after the Bulgarian military plant “Terem” signed a memorandum of joint activity with the Ukrainian military industrial complex. The Bulgarian state company maintains, modernizes and repairs small arms, artillery, missile weapons and ammunition.
The Ministry of Defense remains silent for the time being, and Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov announced that this is not news.
“Bulgaria produces projectiles that are exported, as far as I know, so far we do not have direct exports to Ukraine. It is clear that some of these projectiles are going there, there is no news here”, commented the Prime Minister.
2024-02-27 21:00:00
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