UK: It’s Dangerous to Send NATO Troops in Ukraine

By Staff, Agencies

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron warned on Friday that sending NATO soldiers to fight the Russian army in Ukraine would be too dangerous.

Cameron made his comments as European leaders have reignited the debate on whether the US-led alliance should consider a more direct involvement in the conflict.

Speaking to Sky News on Friday, Cameron said that the UK must continue to deliver weapons to Kiev and focus on replenishing own stocks “as a national priority.”

“But I wouldn’t have NATO soldiers in the country because I think that could be a dangerous escalation,” the prime minister added. “We’ve trained – I think – almost 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers.”

The foreign secretary’s statement came after French President Emmanuel Macron once again refused to rule out a potential deployment of NATO soldiers in Ukraine. “We mustn’t rule anything out because our objective is that Russia must never be able to win in Ukraine,” he told the Economist in an interview published this week. Macron argued that the question of NATO boots on the ground could arise “if the Russians were to break through the front lines” and if Kiev would request help.

Other high-ranking European officials have floated the idea of troop deployment, with some suggesting that NATO could send demining squads and other non-combat personnel. “The presence of NATO forces in Ukraine is not unthinkable,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters in March.