Mar 20, 2024

French troops are ready for “the toughest engagements,” the commander of the country’s ground forces has said, as President Emmanuel Macron mulls an official military deployment to Ukraine despite repeated Russian threats of retaliation.

In an op-ed published by French daily Le Monde on Tuesday, General Pierre Schill—France’s ground forces chief—said his forces are “ready” if called upon, and that a display of French military muscle would “deter any attack on France.”

Macron is at the forefront of a nascent proposal by a handful of NATO nations to discuss sending allied forces into Ukraine in training and advisory roles, though not as combat troops. The Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, as well as Poland, have expressed support of Paris’ position, though large NATO states like the U.S. and Germany are opposed.

Schill said France could engage a division of 20,000 troops within 30 days to operate as part of an allied coalition. Paris, he added, would be able to command a force of around 60,000 soldiers made up of French and other allied troops. The French army comprises some 121,000 soldiers, with 24,000 reservists.

“If you want peace, prepare for war,” the general wrote, quoting a well-known Latin adage. “The sources of crisis are multiplying and carry with them risks of spiraling or extending,” the commander added, though he did not specifically refer to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Russian officials have repeatedly criticized any hint of deeper NATO involvement in Ukraine. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Macron’s “idea of potentially sending such a contingent,” is “clearly perceived differently in different European capitals.” He added: “We continue following this situation closely.”

Foreign Intelligence Service head Sergey Naryshkin, meanwhile, claimed—without providing evidence—to have intelligence of a French plan to send 2,000 troops to Ukraine.

“It will thus become a legitimate priority target for attacks by the Russian armed forces,” the spy chief said. “This means that it will suffer the fate of all the French who have ever come to the Russian world with a sword.”

There are as yet no public plans for a French or other allied military deployment to Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz appeared to reveal in February, however, that small numbers of French and British personnel are assisting Ukrainian troops in the targeting of Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles provided by the two NATO nations.

Macron first suggested that NATO soldiers could deploy to Ukraine in February during a meeting of European leaders in Paris. The president said there was “no consensus” on the proposal, though added that “nothing was excluded.”

The U.S. and Germany pushed back on any such step. President Joe Biden has “made it clear that we will not put U.S. boots on the ground,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said last week.

Scholz’s interpretation of the Paris summit appeared quite different from Macron’s. “There will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent there by European countries or NATO states,” he said, following the meeting.

Still, Paris has found backers elsewhere in the alliance. “The presence of NATO forces in Ukraine is not unthinkable,” Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said earlier this month. Baltic foreign ministers, meanwhile, praised France for “thinking out of the box.”

One European diplomatic official—who spoke with Newsweek earlier this month on the condition of anonymity—said: “I doubt you can change Russia’s calculus just by sending trainers to Ukraine.”

A second diplomat, who also requested anonymity to speak candidly, concurred. “The West is paralyzed by fear,” they told Newsweek. “So far, all the ‘red lines’ we’ve crossed have not brought the Armageddon we’re so afraid of.”

https://www.newsweek.com/nato-ally-sixty-thousand-soldiers-ukraine-general-france-macron-1881216