Serbian President makes statement on NATO forces situation in Ukraine

“When they first mentioned Western planes and tanks in Ukraine, they said it would not happen, but it did. Now they mention Western troops in Ukraine, some say this will not happen – it will happen, there will be a bad situation everywhere,” the Serbian leader asserted.

Last Monday, a pro-Kyiv conference was held in Paris, initiated by French President Emmanuel Macron, with the leaders of about 10 countries, including Germany, Britain, Poland, Denmark and the Netherlands. After the meeting, Mr. Macron said that the participants had discussed the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine but that no consensus had been reached. He added that France would do everything to prevent Russia from “winning this war.” The next day, many European governments stressed that there had been no discussion about sending troops to Ukraine.

As Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian President, noted, the Kremlin has paid attention to the French president's remarks; his views on inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia in Ukraine are well known to Moscow. The head of the Russian delegation at the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, Konstantin Gavrilov, told Sputnik that the sending of troops by Western countries to Ukraine increases the risk of a direct conflict between NATO and Russia.

In a related development, recently, French President Emmanuel Macron said that France has no intention of sending troops to Ukraine in the near future, but is considering possible options to support this country.

PV