France, UK consider troop deployment to Ukraine, Putin's blackmail fails - political analyst

He expressed this opinion in an interview with Antin Borkovskyi, host of the Studio West program.

“Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, Michael McCaul, directly addressed Trump: do you want to be remembered in history as Chamberlain or Churchill? This is a very strong stance. He laid all his cards on the table, making it clear that the bipartisan pro-Ukraine majority would fight against this scenario and prevent it. At the same time, there has been a very positive reaction in Europe. Moreover, the French General Staff and the British government are increasingly seriously considering the deployment of their troops to Ukraine, and this is no longer being hidden. By the way, Biden’s recent positive steps were partly taken under European pressure - Starmer and Macron have been demanding this from him almost daily,” noted Piontkovsky.

In his view, Putin's blackmail is failing. During his latest attempt at coercion, at the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan, everyone saw a completely different Putin.

"I read how he was described in Ukrainian networks - 'a sick old man.' Indeed, he appeared as a very ill elderly figure, hunched over a text, struggling to slowly sound out his threats. And what exactly are these terrifying threats? He’s been threatening us all along with strikes on decision-making centers in London, Paris, and so on. This time, he limited himself to endlessly repeating: 'Oreshnik' - '10 Machs' - 'Oreshnik' - '10 Machs.' Nonsensical rambling," he added.

Putin has significantly toned down the intensity of his threats—no more mentions of decision-making centers. Now, he says he will target Ukraine and describes these strikes as using non-nuclear missiles with effects comparable to nuclear weapons, but without radiation, the political analyst noted.

“This is the result of internal struggles within his circle, where more rational people who don’t want to die manage to stop him. In this pathetic speech, he drastically lowered the level of threats toward the West, saying he’ll only target Ukraine - but not with nuclear weapons, rather with missiles that have nuclear-level destructive power,” Piontkovsky explained. 

• Recently, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot stated that France does not intend to set "red lines" in its support for Ukraine, hinting at the possibility of involving French troops in the war against Russia.