France is building an alliance of countries open to potentially sending Western troops to Ukraine — and in the process deepening its clash with a more cautious Berlin.
French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné was in Lithuania on Friday, where he met his Baltic and Ukrainian counterparts to buttress the idea that foreign troops could end up helping Ukraine in areas like demining.
"It is not for Russia to tell us how we should help Ukraine in the coming months or years," Séjourné said at a meeting chaired by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis and attended by his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba. "It is not for Russia to organize how we deploy our actions, or to set red lines. So we decide it among us."
Séjourné repeatedly referred to mine clearance operations as a possibility, saying it "might mean having some personnel, [but] not to fight."
The meeting comes as Ukraine is suffering from an artillery ammunition shortage that is making it difficult to halt the fury of Russian attacks.
"Ukraine did not ask us to send troops. Ukraine is asking us to send ammunition at the moment," the French minister said. "We do not exclude anything for the coming months."
The Baltic ministers praised France for "thinking out of the box."
French President Emmanuel Macon last month raised the possibility that Western soldiers may have to be sent to Ukraine; immediately afterward most European countries — including Germany, the Czech Republic Poland — said they had no such plans. However, the three Baltic countries — the most exposed to any Russian attack should Moscow succeed in its war against Ukraine — are much more open to the idea.
Warsaw is also shifting position.
"The presence of NATO forces in Ukraine is not unthinkable," Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said on Friday in Poland, adding that he appreciated Macron's initiative, "because it is about [Russian President Vladimir] Putin being afraid, not us being afraid of Putin."
Séjourné raised concerns about Moscow setting its sights on the Baltic countries, which used to be part of the Soviet empire but are now members of the EU and NATO.
Lithuania's Landsbergis echoed Séjourné.
"There cannot be any 'buts.' We must draw red lines for Russia, not ourselves. No form of support for Ukraine can be excluded. We need to continue supporting Ukraine wherever it's most needed," he said.
Although Germany is by far the largest European military aid donor to Ukraine, it has come under fierce pressure for its reluctance to send Kyiv long range Taurus cruise missiles for fear of provoking Moscow. Kuleba took a subtle swipe at that reticence on Friday.
"I'm personally fed up with the ... fear of escalation," he said. "Our problem is that we still have people who think of this war in terms of the fear of escalation."
Kuleba continued: "What kind of escalation are you afraid of? What else has to happen to Ukraine for you to understand that this fear is useless? What do you expect Putin to do? 'Well I sent tanks but I did not send the missiles or troops, so maybe you'll be nicer to me than to others?' That's not how Putin thinks, that's not how he treats Europe."