Published On: Tue, Apr 9th, 2024

UK must send troops to Ukraine or risk becoming ‘lost’ | World | News


Britain will have no choice but to send troops to Ukraine to fight Putin’s army, if French President Emmanuel Macron orders his army to Kyiv’s defence, according to a former senior military officer.

The French President caused a stir among his fellow Western leaders when he suggested in February that NATO armies might need to intervene directly in Ukraine to stop Putin’s army.

Macron made his remarks after talks with over 20 European heads of state and government at a meeting in Paris.

He told journalists that “we will do everything needed so Russia cannot win the war”.

The French President added: “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.”

He reiterated his position that sending Western troops into Ukraine shouldn’t be ruled out again in March, warning his counterparts that NATO must not show any signs of weakness towards Russia.

Glen Grant, a former Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army and currently an analyst for the Baltic Security Foundation, told the Daily Express that the UK would be “lost as a nation” if it refused to send troops in the event of a French military deployment to Ukraine.

He said: “Let’s be blunt about this. We may have to go into battle because I cannot see the French going into battle if they feel they’ve got to and us staying outside.

“I think we have to as a nation, because if we don’t we are lost. We’re already losing credibility by the fact that we just can’t produce s**t (military equipment) for people.”

Although Macron has said the situation in Ukraine currently does not require Western intervention, Mr Grant outlined what he believed to be the French President’s red lines over military escalation.

The security analyst argued that the imminent capture of the Black Sea port of Odesa would be the trigger to put Western boots on the ground.

“I think what Macron is saying is that he will not accept Odesa being overrun. That’s his red line in the sand because if Odesa is overrun, then 20 percent of Ukraine‘s GDP disappears down the tubes,” he explained.

“At that point, Ukraine is really in deep trouble financially. It’s also in deep trouble because it just loses its whole shape and it becomes an internal island, as opposed to having a route out to the sea.”

The fall of Odesa would also imperil Ukraine‘s neighbours in the region, increasing the likelihood of further Russian military aggression and an escalation in the war.

Such a situation would almost certainly force the UK and its allies to take direct action in Ukraine.

“If Odesa goes, Moldova goes. Let’s be quite clear about that. Moldova’s next in line,” Mr Grant argued.

“And if Moldova goes then we’re looking at Russia in this place hard up against Romania as well as it’s hard up against Estonia and Latvia.

“I think unless we actually act and show that we’re not willing to accept this, I think the steamroller will just keep coming our way and eventually we will have to go and stop it not by showing that we’re willing to use force but actually by force.”



Source link

Verified by MonsterInsights