Weeks earlier, France’s Chief of the Defense Staff General Thierry Burkhard had written to half his NATO colleagues, exploring the possibility of a coalition of the willing to take over certain tasks from Ukraine — including manning defensive systems, training forces in country, launching cyber operations and offering help in demining, Ivo Daalder, former U.S. ambassador to NATO wrote for Politico, Ednews reports.
He noted that NATO leaders publicly denounced the idea of sending European or alliance troops to Ukraine, with U.S. President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg, among others, all saying it wasn’t going to happen.
Macron raised the possibility publicly despite his allies’ clear response, which was reiterated by leaders gathered in Paris before his press conference.