France may announce sending military trainers to Ukraine soon - Reuters

Reuters reports this with reference to three diplomatic sources.

In particular, according to diplomats, France hopes to form and lead a coalition of countries that will offer Ukraine such assistance in the war. 

However, some EU partners fear that this could make a direct conflict with Russia more likely.

Two diplomats said France would initially send a limited number of personnel to assess "mission conditions" before sending several hundred instructors.

They also said that the main areas of training will be demining, equipment maintenance and technical expertise of military aircraft provided by the West. 

Paris will also finance, arm and train a Ukrainian mechanised brigade.

"The arrangements are very advanced and we could expect something next week," one of the sources said.

What is known about the deployment of French instructors to Ukraine

On 26 February, about 20 European leaders met in Paris to discuss the threats posed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. 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.

On 4 March, Macron says he will not send troops to Ukraine in the near future, but opens a debate on the issue.

5 March Macron calls on allies "not to be cowards" with regard to Ukraine and to step up. German Defence 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.

The Estonian government is seriously discussing the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine to take over the rear in western Ukraine

On 14 May, it was reported that Sweden was considering sending troops to Ukraine if this proposal was made at the level of NATO member states.

On 20 May, the Prime Minister of Estonia supported the sending of NATO instructors to train the Ukrainian military.