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Czech PM: 'No one in Europe is going to send troops to Ukraine'

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Czech PM: 'No one in Europe is going to send troops to Ukraine'
Czechia's Prime Minister Petr Fiala attends a European Union leaders summit to discuss support for Ukraine at the EU Council headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday, March 24, 2022. (Valeria Mongelli/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said that European countries are not going to send troops to Ukraine to fight in the war, the Czech news agency CTK reported on Feb. 29.

Following the Feb. 26 summit of European leaders in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron suggested that sending Western troops on the ground in Ukraine can not be "ruled out" in the future, adding that there was no consensus on such a move.

According to Fiala, the discussion on the possible deployment of troops in Ukraine "took a minimal amount of time," and the issue would not be considered again.

"It's not a topic because this idea is unacceptable for the vast majority of countries. No one in Europe is going to send troops to Ukraine," the Czech prime minister noted.

He called not to "frighten people with things that no one has proposed and is not proposing in the way they are being interpreted."

After Macron's statement, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, as well as leaders of Germany, the U.K., and other European NATO member states, ruled out sending Western troops to Ukraine.

Later, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas noted that European leaders should not exclude this possibility, saying this could be "a signal to Russia."

During a two-hour State of the Nation address on Feb. 29, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened "tragic consequences" if NATO troops were sent to Ukraine, claiming the West's support for Kyiv "risks a conflict using nuclear weapons."

Macron doesn’t rule out possibility of Western troops in Ukraine
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Feb. 26 that the possibility of sending Western troops on the ground in Ukraine is not “ruled out” in the future, following discussions among European leaders as Russia’s full-scale invasion entered its third year.
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Kateryna Denisova

News Editor

Kateryna Denisova works as a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a news editor at the NV media outlet for four years, covering mainly Ukrainian and international politics. Kateryna holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. She also was a fellow at journalism schools in the Czech Republic and Germany.

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