France eyes sending ground troops to Ukraine

France’s Secretary of State for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad has said that his country is considering sending ground troops to Ukraine.

“President [French President Emmanuel] Macron said that we should not rule out anything, and that remains true. In particular, we must consider training missions. That's a debate we need to have with our allies,” the secretary of state said in an interview with German media, according to Caliber.Az.

Asked whether Paris' position that sending ground troops to Ukraine is not ruled out remains, Haddad answered in the affirmative.

He also deemed it necessary to provide Kyiv with long-range missiles for strikes on Russian facilities.

France does not officially have military personnel assisting or training Ukrainian forces in Ukraine at the moment.

French President Emmanuel Macron doesn’t rule out deploying troops to Ukraine, despite reluctance from other NATO members and furious condemnation from Moscow.

Russia has warned against such a move, arguing it would dramatically escalate the conflict.

It has repeatedly vowed to destroy Western military hardware sent to the country.

By Khagan Isayev