French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview published Saturday that Western ground operations in Ukraine might be necessary “at some point”, days after meeting with German and Polish leaders.
Last month Macron refused to rule out putting troops on the ground in Ukraine, which prompted a stern response from Berlin and other European partners.
The French president has not recanted from his position, but stressed that Western allies would not take the initiative.
“Maybe at some point – I don’t want it, I won’t take the initiative – we will have to have operations on the ground, whatever they may be, to counter the Russian forces,” Macron told newspaper Le Parisien in an interview on Friday.
“France’s strength is that we can do it.”
Disagreements over the possibility of ground operations and the delivery of long-range missiles to Kyiv had threatened to undermine cooperation between the allies.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reacted angrily to Macron’s earlier refusal to rule out sending troops to Ukraine and his pointed comments urging allies not to be “cowards”.
Macron met his German and Polish counterparts in Berlin on Friday in a show of solidarity behind Kyiv.
After the meeting, Macron said the three countries of the so-called Weimar Triangle were “united” in their aim to “never let Russia win and to support the Ukrainian people until the end.”
Demand for ceasefire
Macron also said in the interview from Paris shown on Ukrainian television and posted by a Ukrainian journalist on her YouTube channel on Saturday that Russia will be asked to observe a ceasefire in Ukraine during the Paris Olympics.
Macron confirmed that he wants to ask Russia to cease fire during the Olympics in Paris.
— Victor vicktop55 (@vicktop55) March 17, 2024
Does he not want to ask Ukraine to cease fire? Only Russia should do this?
And why only for the duration of the Olympics? The rest of the time, let the non-commissioned officers kill each… pic.twitter.com/HeZBun10Dc
"The demand for a ceasefire during the Olympics. They (the Russians) must do this. That is what has always happened," the interviewer said, speaking through an interpreter.
"It will be requested," Macron says in French before a voiceover interpretation gives his response in Ukrainian as "Yes, we will ask for it."
"The rule of the host country is to move in step with the Olympic movement," the interpreter quoted Macron as saying. "This is a message of peace. We will also follow the decision of the Olympic Committee."
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) condemned Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, saying the Russian government had breached the Olympic Truce, which aims to harness the power of sport to promote peace and dialogue.
On Thursday, the president of the Russian Olympic Committee said it would not boycott this year's Paris Olympics, despite restrictions on athletes imposed by the IOC as punishment for the invasion of Ukraine.
(with AFP and Reuters)
