May 25, 2024
Daniel Fried, ex-coordinator of the US Department of Sanitation Policy, believes that the US and European countries are considering various options for increasing and expanding military aid to Ukraine in the war with Russia
He expressed this opinion on Espresso
“President Macron is expanding his support for Ukraine in every possible way, and I welcome such efforts. I think now more than ever is a good idea to start looking at different options. Recently, there have been many ideas about sending technical experts to Ukraine – Americans and Europeans with technical abilities – to assistance to Ukrainians, in particular for the training of Ukrainian soldiers and the repair of Ukrainian equipment on the territory of Ukraine. territory of Ukraine. There were several such proposals, but none of them were accepted. And yet, this shows that the USA and Europe are considering what else they can do to help Ukraine defend itself,” Fried said.
According to the expert, the NATO summit in Washington should demonstrate readiness to accept Ukraine into the Alliance
“Of course, there are many questions that are actively being worked on in the run-up to the NATO summit in Washington in July, which is very quickly approaching. This summit should demonstrate that Ukraine’s ultimate goal in the future is NATO membership. The US administration and Secretary of State Blinken have started talking about building a bridge to NATO. This is not a perfect metaphor. However, if this bridge is strong, made of steel and not paper, if it really leads Ukraine to NATO membership, and if it is short and not too long, then such a metaphor is quite suitable It can be a way to push a policy that will really achieve this goal,” he added.
What preceded
On February 26, about 20 European leaders met in Paris to discuss threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi addressed them.
After the end of the conference, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that sending Western ground troops to combat Russian aggression should not be ruled out in the future.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico confirmed that some NATO and EU member countries are allegedly discussing the possibility of sending their troops to the territory of Ukraine after signing bilateral agreements with Kyiv.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the leaders of the Alliance stated that a general decision to send troops to Ukraine had not been made, and Russia called such a move a declaration of war.
On February 29, Estonian Prime Minister Kaia Kallas said that Western leaders should not rule out the possibility of sending ground troops to Ukraine.
On March 4, Macron announced that he would not send his troops to Ukraine in the near future, but opened a debate on this.
On March 5, Macron called on allies “not to be cowards” regarding Ukraine and to step up. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius responded to his call.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba said that the discussion provoked by French President Emmanuel Macron’s words about the deployment of Western troops in Ukraine will save Europe a lot of time to realize that more needs to be done.
The government of Estonia is seriously discussing the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine, so that the Estonian military will take over rear operations in western Ukraine
On May 14, it became known that Sweden allows the possible dispatch of troops to Ukraine, if this proposal appears at the level of NATO member states.
Beside waving fingers and weak sanctions, what else is the West good at? That’s right, holding long-winded discussions. Sometimes, it’s a huge mystery as to what there is to discuss so much about when there is a single clear and only righteous path to take.