Scholz rejects idea of European troops’ deployment in Ukraine

He stated this while commenting on the results of the conference of European leaders dedicated to support for Ukraine, which took place in Paris, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"During a very good discussion, we again confirmed among ourselves what we had clearly agreed on from the very start and which will also apply to the future: there will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent by European countries, NATO countries," said the chancellor.

According to him, this means soldiers from these countries "will not personally take an active part in military operations." The head of the German government stated the importance of constantly stating this, and that the fact that the EU leaders agreed with this is "a very good and important step," he said.

Read also: France does not rule out potential participation of European forces in Ukraine war

Scholz noted that "a couple of unusual new decisions" were made at the meeting. They relate, in particular, not only to increasing the output of weapons and ammunition in Europe, but also to the willingness to invest in the purchase of materiel required by Ukraine beyond EU borders with European money.

Scholz described as “very intense, concrete, and necessary” the discussion convened by French President Emmanuel Macron. According to the chancellor, the partners discussed steps to increase support for Ukraine in the short term.

Read also: NATO has no plans to send troops to Ukraine - Stoltenberg

Ukraine needs a lot of support, including in terms of ammunition, air defense capabilities, and everything related to this, stated the head of the German government. He also recalled that a few weeks ago, he himself launched discussions with European counterparts of the need to ramp up support for Ukraine.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, claimed on Monday that several NATO Allies and the European Union were allegedly considering the possibility of sending their troops to Ukraine after concluding bilateral agreements.

Some countries, including the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden, and Poland, have declared they will not send their troops to Ukraine.

The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, also said NATO has no plans to deploy its troops on the territory of Ukraine.