The Prime Minister of Estonia appeared to back French President Emmanuel Macron’s suggestion that the West may have to send NATO troops to Ukraine, saying that “everything” should be on the table to defeat Russian President Vladimir Putin, Politico EU reported.
In a February 29 interview on Politico’s Power Play podcast, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said Western leaders must be willing to discuss every possibility, explaining that it would send a message to Moscow that the West was not “ruling out different things.”
Kallas said the West knows that it must do “everything” to ensure Ukraine’s victory over Russia in the war.
Several Western countries quickly distanced themselves from Macron’s comments. The White House reaffirmed that the US would not send ground troops into Ukraine. Italy, Spain, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Great Britain also rejected the idea.
While most European Union member states have ruled out placing boots on the ground in Ukraine, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis expressed gratitude to President Macron for initiating a debate on the subject, saying that “nothing can be taken off the table” or “rejected out of hand.”
Macron’s remarks not only sparked push-back from the West but also prompted anger from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During his state-of-the-nation address to the Duma on February 29, Putin railed against NATO for accusing Russia of planning to attack the West while discussing the possibility of sending ground troops to Ukraine to fight Russia.
Putin warned the West about trying to invade Russian territory, saying that the “consequences” for doing so would be “far more tragic” today than they were for those who previously attempted it.
The Russian president reminded Western leaders that Russia had weapons that could hit targets in all of their countries and said any suggestion of invading Russian territory would raise “the real threat of a nuclear conflict.”
