Poland’s Foreign Minister Says Sending NATO Troops to Ukraine ‘Not Unthinkable’

Ukrainian servicemen prepare their weapons during a military training exercise near the front line in the Donetsk region, on Feb. 23, 2024. (Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images)

Poland’s foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Friday that it’s “not unthinkable” for NATO forces to be deployed to Ukraine after French President Emmanuel Macron issued a similar warning that prompted backlash and backpedaling from other leaders.

Mr. Sikorski made the remark during a panel discussion in the Polish parliament in Warsaw on March 8, held to mark the 25th anniversary of Poland’s accession to the trans-atlantic defense pact.

“The presence of NATO forces in Ukraine is not unthinkable,” Mr. Sikorski said, per a translation of his remarks by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

So far, NATO as an alliance has provided Ukraine with non-lethal aid and support such as medical supplies and winter gear, though some members have been sending weapons and ammunition of their own accord.

Last month, the president of France said that sending Western ground troops to Ukraine should not be “ruled out” at some point in the future, adding that, “we will do everything needed so Russia cannot win the war.”

“There’s no consensus today to send in an official, endorsed manner troops on the ground. But in terms of dynamics, nothing can be ruled out,” Mr. Macron said in a Feb. 26 press conference at the presidential palace in Paris.

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President Macron declined to provide details about which NATO countries were thinking about sending their forces into Ukraine, saying he prefers to maintain some “strategic ambiguity.”

His remarks drew immediate criticism from the Kremlin, which warned that NATO troops in Ukraine would inevitably mean a conflict with nuclear-armed Russia.

Backlash and Backpedaling

A number of European leaders sought to allay concerns that NATO is considering sending troops to Ukraine, including Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who said that Poland “does not plan to send its troops to Ukraine.”

Similarly, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz insisted “that there will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil who are sent there by European states or NATO states.”

Also, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said plainly that “there are no plans for NATO combat troops on the ground in Ukraine,” though he added that the alliance is providing “unprecedented” support to Kyiv.

Seeking to clarify President Macron’s remarks, French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu said that there have been discussions among NATO allies about carrying out military training and de-mining operations in Ukraine, but that there was no consensus on the matter.

“It’s not sending troops to wage war against Russia,” the French minister said.

In his remarks on Friday, the Polish foreign minister said President Macron’s remarks were about sending a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I appreciate President Emmanuel Macron’s initiative, because it is about Putin being afraid, not us being afraid of Putin,” Mr. Sikorski said.

He added that, with its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has defined itself “as a country that cannot live in peace with its neighbours” and has proven that it is “civilizationally incapable of adopting our values, despite our repeated encouragement.”

Mr. Sikorski said during a separate event on March 8 in Warsaw that Poland has been an “indispensable hub” for the delivery of Western aid and weapons to Ukraine while calling for a bolstering of European infrastructure to facilitate sending rapid military reinforcements to NATO’s eastern flank.

French President Emmanuel Macron looks on during a press conference at the end of the international conference aimed at strengthening Western support for Ukraine, in Paris, on Feb. 26, 2024. (Gonzalo Fuentes/AFP/Getty Images)

Earlier this week, Czech President Petr Pavel met with President Macron and afterward said he supported new ways to support Ukraine’s military, while hinting that sending troops could be a possibility in the future.

“Let’s not limit ourselves where we don’t have to,” President Pavel said, according to Czech news outlet Novinky.

President Macron said after his meeting with President Pavel that European support for Ukraine should continue but added that he wants “no escalation” with Russia.

‘Extremely Dangerous’

The Kremlin’s spy chief has called talk about sending Western troops to Ukraine “extremely dangerous,” while warning that such a move would be a “red line” for Russia.

Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, told Russian state television on March 5 that talk of sending Western troops to Ukraine “shows the high degree of political irresponsibility of Europe’s leaders today.”

“These statements are extremely dangerous,” Mr. Naryshkin said.

“It is sad to see this, sad to observe and sad to understand that the ability of current elites in Europe and the North Atlantic to negotiate is at a very low level,” he continued. “They more and more rarely demonstrate any common sense at all.”

NATO member Poland is located on the alliance’s eastern flank, sharing a border with both Ukraine and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

Poland has been under Russian control in the past, and many Poles fear that if Russia wins in Ukraine, it could target other countries in a region that Moscow sees as part of its sphere of influence.

Russia has denied hostile intentions with respect to NATO member states, although it has accused the alliance of trying to turn Ukraine into a NATO bulwark on its border and so blames it for the conflict in Ukraine.

Some experts believe that Mr. Sikorski’s latest remark hints at a broader shift closer to President Macron’s position, namely that NATO troops in Ukraine shouldn’t be ruled out amid domestic pressure in the United States to stop or reduce aid to Kyiv.