Lecornu refutes sending soldiers to Ukraine and clarifies Macron's remarks

The Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu indicated that this Friday morning that the sending of French troops to Ukrainian soil was not on the table.

This Friday morning, the Minister of the Armed Forces spoke about the situation. regarding the remarks of the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron concerning the potential sending of French troops to Ukrainian soil. There is no question of sending combat ground troops. he indicated. on BFMTV. "Between the transfer of arms as we know it today and cobelligerence, it's up to date. to wage war directly with Russia, have we tried everything? ?" questioned SéSébastien Lecornu, trying to defuse a controversy that has been growing for several days.

In fact, the first stage of aid from France concerns the sending of advisors or specialists to the country. behind the front to help the Ukrainian armed forces. A further step would be taken by switching to support by air or artillery forces to target enemy soldiers. ;#39;is à At this stage, it is an entry into war even if it is not by the same token. direct engagement of combat forces in action. However, France's entry into a war is governed by the Constitution: it must be authorized by Parliament. The final step is to use all means for combat.

"We are no longer in the same situation as we were two years ago" concède Lecornu

Face &agrav; Apolline de Malherbe this Friday, the Minister of the Armed Forces spoke about several avenues of help & Ukraine, and in particular "schemes of military presence for mine clearance, training of Ukrainian soldiers on Ukrainian soil". "We are no longer in the same situation as we were two years ago" he explains. He cites in particular the assassination of Navalny, "military aid blocked to Congress" of the United States, or even “the threats that Russia poses to all European democracies”, which could change the situation.

Indeed, after the willé clear statement by Emmanuel Macron to do "whatever it takes to ensure that Russia cannot win this war" On February 26, the Kremlin was quick to attack. &agrav; respond, three days later, through its spokesperson, Dmitri Peskov. The latter estimated that with his recent statements the French president was increasing "the&# 39;involvement" of France in the war. "Mr. Macron is convinced of his policy consisting à wanting to inflict a strategic defeat on our country and it continues to increase the level of direct involvement of France,” he precisely declared.

A "consensus" international on aid & Ukraine ?

With this recent media outing, Sébastien Lecornu seems to want to avoid the escalation of declarations and put a little of water in the wine of the tricolor government. This Friday, he also tried to to justify the latest outings of the head of state by indicating that he had simply responded to his Slovenian counterpart who said “there was no question of putting troops on the ground”.

Monday February 26, an international conference bringing together several heads of state & Paris had nonetheless brought out "lots of proposals" who made "consensus" affirms the Minister of the Armed Forces, regarding the sending of troops to Ukraine which must not "be excluded". Like the fact of "producing on Ukrainian soil", or the establishment of a reinforcement of "cyberédefense".