Russia Cannot be Allowed to Win ‘Existential’ War in Ukraine, ‘We Must Not be Weak’ Thunders France’s Macron

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Oliver JJ Lane

If Ukraine’s defence crumbled France would step in to prevent a Russian victory, President Emmanuel Macron has said, saying those leaders that call for limits to Western intervention have chosen “defeat”.

French President Emmanuel Macron has made yet another explosive intervention in the ongoing debate over Western involvement in Ukraine’s defence against the Russian invasion. The President continues to absolutely reject the general NATO position that donating arms and ammunition and providing training to help keep the country independent of Moscow is positive, but becoming directly involved as a combatant is not.

The suggestion there could be Western boots on the ground was unspoken until last month when Macron voiced it for the first time, and has refused to be cowed on it despite concerned reactions from other NATO leaders since.

Speaking to French television on Thursday night, President Macron said while he was deliberately vague about what exactly he had in mind to keep his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin guessing, nevertheless he believes the Ukraine war is “existential” to Europe and France and a Russian victory should not be permitted. He told his interviewers that: “If Russia wins the war in Ukraine, Europe’s credibility would be reduced to zero”, reports France24.

The comments came just hours before the President and his German and Polish counterparts met in Berlin on Friday to discuss Ukraine, a clear move by Macron to set the agenda for the meeting with leaders who have made clear they wish to avoid direct contact with the Russians.

A Russian victory in Ukraine would mean more wars in Eastern Europe, Macron predicted last night, and while France “will never go on the offensive” and draw first blood, nevertheless he clearly telegraphed it would be willing to step in to prevent a Ukrainian defeat. The President continued: “France is a force for peace… Today, in order to have peace in Ukraine, we must not be weak, and so we must look at the situation lucidly and say with determination, strong will and courage that we are ready to use all the means at our disposal to achieve our objective, which is that Russia should not win.”

Appealing to his allies, Macron fell back onto an argument he has used previously in recent weeks, that at the start of the Ukraine war the NATO allies said it would be too much of an escalation to send battle tanks to Kyiv, but eventually, they were sent. Then the West said it would be too escalatory to send cruise missiles, and yet they were delivered too. Anyone who chooses to limit what further support Ukraine might need in the future, he said, was choosing defeat.

Macron told the interviewer: “if we decided to be weak, if we decided today that we would not respond, it would be choosing defeat already. And I don’t want that”.

As stated by the French premiere, if Russia looked like it would win in Ukraine, NATO would end up fighting Moscow anyway, either in defence of Ukraine or later, when Russia moves on to “threaten Moldova, Romania and Poland”, as Macron said he believed they would.

Appealing to the Latin maxim if you wish for peace, prepare for war, Macron said after the interview that: “Wanting peace does not mean choosing defeat or letting Ukraine down.” Again emphasising he wanted France to be a force for peace and he did not believe such fighting was imminent, Macron told the programme: “We’re not in that situation today… [but] all these options are possible”.

As passionately and repeatedly argued as Macron’s beliefs have been in recent weeks, it remains political dynamite among other NATO leaders who do not wish to find themselves being drummed down a path towards direct military contact with Russia. NATO alliance leader Jens Stoltenberg said last month: “there are no plans for Nato combat troops on the ground in Ukraine” while British and German spokesmen said the same. Berlin remarked: “One thing is clear: There will be no ground troops from European states or NATO. That’s true.”

Even Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky — no doubt anxious about spooking his allies and mindful of the opportunity this debate gives to plead for more weapon and ammunition donations — has rejected the need of foreign troop deployments to his nation. As reported earlier this week, Ukraine reassured French mothers their children would not have to die for Kyiv.

He said: “…as long as Ukraine holds out, the French army can stay on French territory… Your children will not be killed in Ukraine, but if Russia invades NATO countries, your children may be sent to one of these countries.”

There is a situation in which Zelensky would like to see Western soldiers in Ukraine though, which would be in support roles, such as hunting for and removing landmines and repairing the sophisticated NATO-supplied military equipment which at the moment has to be shipped to Poland to rectify damage. France has already signalled it is willing to take this step.

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