Key developments on Dec. 4: * Ukraine's new Palianytsia missile-drone enters serial production, minister says * German FM doesn't rule out deploying troops to Ukraine in case of ceasefire * Russia gathers 300 boats to cross Dnipro River amid attempted attacks in Kherson Oblast, military says * Abducted mayor tortured to death in Russian
U.S. President Joe Biden "expressed concern" to French President Emmanuel Macron about his proposal to send Western military trainers to Ukraine, Politico reported on June 6.
Warnings that the Kremlin could attack a NATO country in the near future have increased in urgency in recent months. According to The Telegraph, U.S. troops and armor would land at one of five ports in the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Turkey or Norway from where they would travel through land corridors to NATO countries bordering Ukraine.
"This is a long-standing exercise in which we train Ukrainian soldiers. We trained them before this invasion, and this is a long-lasting cooperation between our military forces and the Ukrainian military forces," Ingrida Simonyte said.
France may announce its decision next week during a visit by President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to Reuters.
"We should not rule out any option. Let (Russian President Vladimir) Putin guess what we will do," Sikorski said in answer to Gazeta Wyborcza's question about the possibility of sending Polish troops to Ukraine.
The NATO allies' fears that sending troops to Ukraine to train the country's soldiers could draw them into war with Russia "are not well-founded," Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said in an interview with the Financial Times published on May 20.
Some NATO member states are discussing the possibility of sending military instructors or contractors to Ukraine to train Ukrainian troops and assist with equipment repairs, the New York Times reported on May 16.
The Estonian government has held no specific discussions on sending the country's troops to Ukraine, Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said on May 14, according to public broadcaster ERR.
Western military personnel training Ukrainian troops on the ground rather than in NATO countries would have practical advantages, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told the Guardian in an interview published on May 9.
The American military battalion stationed in Lithuania will remain in the country indefinitely, not just until 2025 as previously planned, Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas said on May 2.
The fighter jets took off on April 6 from a base in Lielvarde, a Latvian town about 50 kilometers (about 31 miles) southeast of Riga.
Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to understand that Western support for Ukraine could extend to troops on the ground, the chief of France’s Armed Forces, General Thierry Burkhard, said on March 21, as reported by AFP.
The French authorities have been examining the idea of whether to send "boots on the ground" into Ukraine since June 2023 "in the greatest secrecy," Le Monde reported on March 14.
According to U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron, deploying foreign soldiers in Ukraine would create additional "targets" for Russia.
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