France Drums Up Baltic Support for Ukraine After Troops Backlash

(Bloomberg) -- France received a show of support from Baltic countries and Ukraine after President Emmanuel Macron irked other allies when he left the door open to sending troops to Ukraine.

Lithuania’s Gabrielius Landsbergis, Estonia’s Margus Tsahkna, Latvia’s Krisjanis Karins and Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuleba praised Macron’s “outside of the box” approach during a joint press conference, after Paris convened a meeting of foreign affairs ministers in Vilnius on Friday.

“What Macron is reminding everyone and bringing again to the forefront is the sense of urgency,” Karins said. “This is what is needed.”

Following an informal gathering of European leaders in Paris last week, Macron said “nothing can be ruled out” when responding to a question from Bloomberg News about the possibility of dispatching ground troops to Ukraine. The French president added that European leaders had agreed to work on sending military staff there for non-combat tasks, such as de-mining and training. 

But some countries, including Germany and the US, have since said publicly they won’t be sending troops, revealing a divide among Ukraine’s allies.

Read more: Macron’s Ambiguity on Ukraine Backfires as Allies Balk at Troops

“What I heard in Paris was unanimous support for Ukraine,” French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said. “De-mining, training, co-production — it is about looking at how to do more. How to defeat Russia without going to war with Russia.” 

Ukraine’s Kuleba welcomed the presence of European troops to train soldiers. “We must win this race if you don’t want your boots to be defending your own ground,” he said. “If you can train soldiers faster, you get advantage. If you can repair your equipment faster, you get advantage.”

Now in the third year of the invasion, Kyiv’s troops are struggling to overcome a shortage of ammunition and personnel, as well as a stalled $61 billion aid package from the US.

During a trip to the Czech Republic this week, Macron told reporters that he found it necessary to shake up allies at a critical time for Ukraine. The French president, who plans to travel to Ukraine this month to show his support, has backed a Czech initiative to purchase ammunition for Kyiv from non-European countries, possibly with EU funds, suggesting a shift in the French position that has long favored giving priority to EU-made defense equipment.

The Czech plan could deliver about 800,000 shells to Kyiv as early as May, according to a person familiar with Ukraine’s thinking, though that still falls short of the 2 to 3 million rounds of ammunition needed. Estonia has identified more ammunition that can be bought on the markets but funding remains an issue, the person added, slamming Europe for being a less reliable supplier to Ukraine than North Korea is to Russia.  

“We’re entering a moment in Europe when we mustn’t be cowards,” Macron said in Prague on Tuesday. The comment was seen by some as a jab at Berlin, after German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius dismissed discussions on courage as unnecessary.

Czech President Petr Pavel said this week he was open to discussing the potential presence of troops in Ukraine as long as they aren’t engaged in combat, a position echoed by Lithuania’s defense minister last week. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Friday that the presence of NATO forces in Ukraine isn’t “unthinkable.”

Macron has been hardening his stance against Moscow, prompted by signs of a more aggressive Russia, French officials familiar with the president’s thinking said. They pointed to the handling of the death of Alexey Navalny, a strike on Ukraine during the visit of Greece’s prime minister, attacks in the Red Sea and a leak of German military conversations broadcast by a Russian TV channel.

France this week agreed to a defense pact with Moldova, the former Soviet republic of 2.6 million people that’s wedged between Ukraine and Romania, and where Russian troops are stationed in the breakaway region of Transnistria. 

On Thursday, a Kremlin spokesman said Macron “continues to raise the level of France’s direct involvement in this war.”

The French president — who two years ago was calling on Europe not to humiliate Russia — plans to hold national talks in Parliament on a bilateral security agreement with Ukraine starting Tuesday. 

He’s already facing domestic criticism as campaigning for European Parliament elections gears up: Marine Le Pen, head of the biggest lower-house opposition party, accused Macron of “playing warlord” and “talking so carelessly about our children’s lives.” 

--With assistance from James Regan, Ott Tammik and Aliaksandr Kudrytski.

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