NATO hypothetically allows Poland to deploy air defense system in Ukraine — military expert

This was stated by Ivan Stupak, a military expert and an officer of the Security Service of Ukraine in 2004-2015, on the Espreso TV channel.

"Further developments may be as follows. Just remember: last year, NATO did not consider sending foreign troops to Ukraine at all. Now they have distanced themselves. The Alliance is a separate organization, and all countries make their own decisions. That is, they are not kept in the Alliance. They say, if there is goodwill, deploy troops. This hypothetically frees Poland's hands to deploy its air defense system in the direction of Ukraine. That is, tentatively, very subjectively, they can stretch their air defense system to the western outskirts of Lviv and keep this territory of Ukraine under their air defense umbrella. The Poles can protect us from Russian missiles, drones, etc. This is a very good scenario," he said.

Today, the race to the top is on. Now the stakes are being raised by Western European countries, not Russia. It is unlikely that NATO troops will take part in the fighting in the Donetsk region, but protecting the state border is a possible option, Stupak said.

"The Europeans are now starting to raise the stakes, and the Russians will now be forced to respond. I don't think that NATO troops, if they are in Ukraine, will take part in the fighting near Avdiivka or Robotyne. The only option, in my opinion, is to protect the state border and help Ukrainian border guards, from Volyn to Chernihiv. Probably, they will serve in the Black Sea, guarding vessels involved in the 'grain deal' - this is an option," he added.

Presence of NATO forces in Ukraine

On February 26, about 20 European leaders met in Paris to discuss the threats posed by Russian leader Vladimir Putin. They were addressed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

After the conference, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the deployment of Western ground troops to combat Russian aggression should not be ruled out in the future.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico confirmed that some NATO and EU member states are allegedly discussing the possibility of sending their troops to Ukraine after signing bilateral agreements with Kyiv.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the leaders of the Alliance stated that no general decision had been made to send troops to Ukraine, while Russia called the move a declaration of war.

On February 29, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said that Western leaders should not rule out the possibility of sending ground troops to Ukraine.

On March 4, Macron said that he would not send troops to Ukraine in the near future, but opened a debate on the issue.

On March 5, Macron called on allies "not to be cowards" with regard to Ukraine and to step up. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius responded to his call.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the discussion provoked by French President Emmanuel Macron's words about the deployment of Western troops in Ukraine would save Europe a lot of time in realizing that more needs to be done.

On March 11, Czech President Petr Pavel said that the support of Ukraine by NATO troops directly on its territory would not violate any international norms.