Union of Ukrainians in France comments on possible troop deployment to Ukraine

He spoke about this on Espreso TV.

‘We have been talking a lot in Europe, and especially in France, about the possibility of troops from France, the UK, perhaps even Canada and other European countries entering Ukraine. In other words, we are saying that if NATO is so reluctant to accept Ukraine, we are asking NATO to enter Ukraine. We believe it is very important that Russia understands that the moment there are troops in the form of trainers or other troops on the territory of Ukraine, if Russia wants to go further, if Russia does not want to negotiate, it will fight not only Ukraine but the whole of Europe, and they will not be able to do this today,’ he said.

Volodymyr Kohutiak noted that this idea came from French President Emmanuel Macron himself at the beginning of the year, but at some point there was no government in France, and there was a political problem in early summer. So we had to wait.

‘Now that we have a new government, we are making this request again. Who exactly is making this request today: of course, there are Ukrainian associations, we already have more than 50 associations that have signed a letter to Emmanuel Macron with this appeal. But we are also talking about well-known French intellectuals, for example, Bernard-Henri Levy, who is very famous in Ukraine. We are talking about military people who are retired today, but who were French generals who made this request to the president. Today we have six political parties that officially, publicly say that they are making appeals to the French president to send troops in the form of instructors or in the form of someone else to the territory of Ukraine. This is very positive,’ said the Vice-President of the Union of Ukrainians in France.

He noted that the mood in France has changed.

‘At the beginning of the year, when Emmanuel Macron spoke about bringing instructors to Ukraine, at that time he was not supported by society, political parties, or anyone. Because people were scared at the time, and now the situation has changed a lot. Of course, not for us, Ukrainians, but for Europeans. It has changed a lot today, too, when these requests are being made again, and it is already being discussed in society, but in a positive way. Or it is not discussed at all, meaning that people are silent, and there is also a sign of agreement from time to time,’ said Volodymyr Kohutiak.

• On December 3, it was reported that the United Kingdom and France are likely to consider deploying their military in Ukraine to ensure security in the case of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.