Paris creating alliance of countries open to potential deployment of troops in Ukraine

France is creating an alliance of states that are potentially ready to send their troops to Ukraine. First of all, we are talking about the Baltic states.

Politico reported this.

As noted, earlier, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne was in Lithuania, where he recalled that foreign troops can, for example, help Ukraine in demining.

"It is not for Russia to tell us how we should help Ukraine in the coming months or years. It is not for Russia to organize how we deploy our actions, or to set red lines. So we decide it among us," he said.

The Baltic ministers praised France for "thinking out of the box."

"Ukraine did not ask us to send troops. Ukraine is asking us to send ammunition at the moment," the French minister said. "We do not exclude anything for the coming months."

"The presence of NATO forces in Ukraine is not unthinkable," Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said.

He added that he appreciated Macron's initiative, "because it is about [Russian President Vladimir] Putin being afraid, not us being afraid of Putin."

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis supported Sejourne's words.

"There cannot be any 'buts.' We must draw red lines for Russia, not ourselves. No form of support for Ukraine can be excluded. We need to continue supporting Ukraine wherever it's most needed," he said.