Macron raised the possibility of introducing foreign troops into Ukraine, but Berlin and many other capitals are against it.
France is creating an alliance of countries open to the potential deployment of Western troops to Ukraine — and in the process deepening its clash with a more cautious Berlin.
French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejournay was in Lithuania on Friday, where he met with his Baltic and Ukrainian counterparts to support the idea that foreign troops could eventually help Ukraine in areas such as demining.
"It is not for Russia to tell us how we should help Ukraine in the coming months or years," Sejurne said at a meeting chaired by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielus Landsbergis and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba. "It is not Russia's business to organize how we deploy our actions or set red lines. That's why we decide among ourselves."
Séjournay has repeatedly referred to demining operations as an option, saying it "could mean having some personnel [but] not fighting."
The meeting comes at a time when Ukraine is suffering from a shortage of artillery ammunition, which makes it difficult to stop the fury of Russian attacks.
"Ukraine did not ask us to send troops. Ukraine is asking us to send ammunition at the moment," said the French minister. "We are not ruling anything out for the coming months."
Baltic ministers praised France for "outside the box thinking".
Last month, French President Emmanuel Macon raised the question of whether Western soldiers might have to be sent to Ukraine; immediately afterward, most European countries—including Germany, the Czech Republic, and Poland— said they had no such plans . But the three Baltic states — the most vulnerable to any Russian attack if Moscow succeeds in its war against Ukraine — are far more open to the idea.
Warsaw is also changing its position.
"The presence of NATO forces in Ukraine is not unthinkable," Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said in Poland on Friday, adding that he appreciated Macron's initiative, "because it says that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is afraid, not we are afraid of Putin. .”
Sejourne expressed concern that Moscow has targeted the Baltic states, which used to be part of the Soviet empire and are now members of the EU and NATO.
Landsbergis from Lithuania repeated Sejourne.
"There can be no "buts". We must draw red lines for Russia, not for ourselves. No form of support for Ukraine can be ruled out. We must continue to support Ukraine where it is most needed," he said.
Despite being the largest European donor of military aid to Ukraine, Germany has come under intense pressure for its reluctance to send long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Kyiv for fear of provoking Moscow. On Friday, Kuleba barely perceptibly hit on this restraint.
"I'm personally fed up with ... the fear of escalation," he said. "Our problem is that we still have people thinking about this war because of the fear of escalation."
Kuleba continued: “What kind of escalation are you afraid of? What else has to happen to Ukraine for you to understand that this fear is useless? What do you expect from Putin? Well, I sent the tanks, but I didn't send the rockets." or troops, then perhaps you will be more pleasant to me than to others?" That's not how Putin thinks, that's not how he treats Europe."
