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(Reuters) -A number of NATO and European Union members are contemplating sending troopers to Ukraine on a bilateral foundation, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico stated on Monday.
Fico, who has lengthy opposed army provides to Ukraine and has taken a place seen by some critics as pro-Russian, supplied no particulars and different European leaders didn’t instantly touch upon his remarks.
He was talking forward of a gathering of European leaders in Paris that he’s as a result of attend in a while Monday.
“I’ll restrict myself to say that these theses (in preparation for the Paris assembly) indicate quite a lot of NATO and EU member states are contemplating that they’ll ship their troops to Ukraine on a bilateral foundation,” Fico advised a televised briefing following a gathering of Slovakia’s safety council.
“I can not say for what function and what they need to be doing there,” he stated, including that Slovakia, a member of the EU and NATO, wouldn’t be sending troopers to Ukraine.
Members of NATO have provided billions of {dollars} in arms and ammunition to Kyiv and are coaching Ukrainian forces. However NATO leaders together with U.S. President Joe Biden have underlined that the Western army alliance needs to keep away from a direct battle with Russia, which may result in a worldwide warfare.
“Neither NATO nor NATO allies are social gathering to the battle,” NATO Secretary Common Jens Stoltenberg stated on Feb. 14.
NATO had no fast touch upon Fico’s remarks.
Requested concerning the feedback, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala stated: “The Czech Republic actually shouldn’t be getting ready to ship any troopers to Ukraine, no one has to fret about that.”
Fico stated he noticed a danger of a big escalation of the battle in Ukraine, and that extra info couldn’t be revealed to the general public.
Some 20 European leaders, together with Fico, will collect in Paris on Monday to ship Russian President Vladimir Putin a message of European resolve on Ukraine and counter the Kremlin’s narrative that Russia is sure to win a warfare now coming into its third yr, France stated.
French President Emmanuel Macron has invited European leaders to the Elysee Palace for a working assembly introduced at brief discover due to what his advisers say is an escalation in Russian aggression over the previous few weeks.
Fico stated calling the assembly confirmed the West’s technique on Ukraine had failed. He stated he was going to participate in a constructive spirit though the fabric for discussions despatched “shivers down his backbone”.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet in Prague and Andrew Grey in Brussels, Enhancing by Gareth Jones and Timothy Heritage)
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