French President Macron has not ruled out the use of ground troops in Ukraine. Russia is horrified. The news at a glance.
Russia has criticized the thought games surrounding the deployment of Western ground troops to Ukraine as a dangerous development. The fact that the US’s European allies would send their own armed forces to Ukraine was unthinkable for a long time, but is now being loudly discussed, complained the Russian ambassador in Washington, Anatoly Antonov, in his channel on the Telegram news network. “The American curators (of the war) understand very well where such a development of the situation can lead,” he said.
Russia repeatedly warns of a further escalation of its war of aggression against Ukraine. There is also talk of the danger of a third world war. The US government would be well advised to remember the basics of international politics, Antonov said, “especially given the special responsibility of Russia and the US for strategic stability” in the world. The nuclear power Russia had repeatedly threatened to use all means at its disposal to defend its interests in the event of an attack.
French President Emmanuel Macron recently described the use of ground troops in Ukraine by his country as not out of the question after a Ukraine aid conference. At the meeting with more than 20 heads of state and government, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), there was no agreement on this, but nothing could be ruled out in the future course of the war, Macron said in Paris.
Scholz rejected Macron’s proposal for a possible deployment of ground troops from NATO countries to Ukraine. In Paris it was also agreed for the future “that there will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil that will be sent there by European states or NATO states,” said the Chancellor.
According to Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Estonia is also not discussing sending troops to Ukraine. Bulgaria will also not send ground troops, according to pro-Western Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that since the war began, the United Nations has opposed any rhetoric that could further inflame the already deadly conflict.
US government: Don’t send soldiers to Ukraine
The US government, as Ukraine’s most important supporter, continues to rule out sending American soldiers to the country attacked by Russia. “President (Joe) Biden has made it clear that the United States will not send troops to fight in Ukraine,” said National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson when asked.
She emphasized that a new aid package from the USA is needed for Ukraine to achieve a “path to victory”. This would give the country attacked by Russia the necessary weapons and ammunition to defend itself. The package worth almost $60 billion has already passed the US Senate, but is being blocked by Republicans in the House of Representatives.
Ukrainian soldiers sometimes have to make tough decisions about which targets they should attack and with which ammunition, said National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby at the White House in Washington. “They’re not running out of courage. They’re running out of bullets.” Kirby warned: “The situation is serious.”
In the past two years since the start of the war, the USA has supplied Ukraine with weapons and ammunition on a massive scale. However, there has been no supply from the United States for some time. The background is a domestic political blockade in the US Parliament, where Republicans are refusing further aid to Kiev.
Kirby warned that if Ukraine continues to fail to receive support from the United States, it is very likely that the Russians will be allowed to make further territorial gains in a month or two. There are already some “dramatic effects” on the battlefield. The Ukrainian military lost the small town of Avdiivka due to a lack of ammunition. Meanwhile, Russia reported the capture of two more villages in the region.
Taurus and Western troops: criticism of Scholz and Macron
The Green Party politician Anton Hofreiter accused Scholz and Macron of negligence. The relationship between the two was “obviously deeply broken,” said Hofreiter on ZDF’s “heute journal.” This is “a huge problem for our security” and for the European Union. Both politicians acted irresponsibly – “Macron with his careless talk about the ground troops, which unsettles the population, and Scholz with his completely irresponsible justification for the Taurus cancellation.”
The Chancellor continues to reject the delivery of German Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, justifying his refusal with the risk of Germany becoming involved in the war. “German soldiers must not be linked to the goals that this system achieves at any point or place. Not even in Germany,” he said at a dpa editorial conference. Hofreiter called this rejection on ZDF “a gesture of weakness” towards Russian President Vladimir Putin: “This is directly an invitation to Putin to attack other countries, according to the motto: “We can’t do anything, we’re weak anyway.””
Crimea representative complains about human rights violations
The Ukrainian Crimean representative Tamila Tasheva has complained about increasing human rights violations there ten years after the start of the Russian annexation of the Black Sea peninsula. “As of February 24, the occupiers have illegally detained 208 people, including 125 Crimean Tatars,” the Ukrainian president’s permanent representative in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea told dpa. She also criticized the “colonization” and “total Russification” of the region.
Today, as a Russian appendage, Crimea is cut off from the outside world and depends economically on the occupying power, said Tasheva. Above all, this made life significantly more expensive for people. “We see growing resistance to the occupation,” said Tashewa.
What is important today
President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is once again personally campaigning for support for his country while traveling. After a visit to Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Edi Rama is expecting him for talks in Albania today. At a meeting of the Western Balkan states, Rama wants to express the solidarity of the entire region with Ukraine. Representatives from Greece and Turkey are also expected.
dpa
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