WARSAW, 9 Mar: Poland\u2019s foreign minister says the presence of NATO forces \u201cis not unthinkable\u201d and that he appreciates the French president for not ruling out that idea.
\nRadek Sikorski made the observation during a discussion marking the 25th anniversary of Poland\u2019s accession to NATO in the Polish parliament Friday, and the Foreign Ministry tweeted the comments later in English.
\nThey reflect a larger European debate over how to help Ukraine as Russia has gained some momentum on the battlefield and Kyiv is running low on ammunition. The U.S. Congress is withholding aid that Ukraine says it critically needs to hold off the Russians, putting more pressure on Europe to respond to the war that has shattered peace on the continent.
\nLast month French President Emmanuel Macron said the possibility of Western troops being sent to Ukraine could not be ruled out, a comment that broke a taboo among allies and prompted an outcry from other leaders. French officials later sought to clarify Macron\u2019s remarks and tamp down the backlash, while insisting on the need to send a clear signal to Russia that it cannot win its war in Ukraine.
\nThe Kremlin has warned that if NATO sends combat troops, a direct conflict between the alliance and Russia would be inevitable. Russian President Vladimir Putin said such a move would risk a global nuclear conflict.
\nPoland\u2019s Prime Minister Donald Tusk was among those European leaders who initially ruled out sending troops to Ukraine after Macron\u2019s remarks, saying: \u201cPoland does not plan to send its troops to the territory of Ukraine.\u201d
\nBut less than two weeks later Sikorski struck a different tone.
\n\u201cThe presence of #NATO forces in Ukraine is not unthinkable,\u201d he said, according to the Foreign Ministry\u2019s tweet. He said he appreciated Macron\u2019s initiative \u201cbecause it is about Putin being afraid, not us being afraid of Putin.\u201d
\nSikorski\u2019s remark is part of a broader shift to align with Macron\u2019s position, wrote Phillips O\u2019Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.
\n\u201cThe issue of sending European forces to help Ukraine was never one to be dismissed \u2014 it was always a possibility,\u201d O\u2019Brien wrote in an email analysis sent to subscribers Saturday. \u201cIn fact it has become more of one as the USA has stepped back and withdrawn aid. Europe is now faced with a terrible dilemma \u2014 watching Ukraine potentially run out of ammunition, or stepping in and helping Ukraine more directly.\u201d
\nPolish President Andrzej Duda and Tusk will travel to Washington for a meeting at the White House on Tuesday, a visit the Poles hope they can use to spur the United States to do more to help Ukraine. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WARSAW, 9 Mar: Poland\u2019s foreign minister says the presence of NATO forces \u201cis not unthinkable\u201d and that he appreciates the French president for not ruling out that idea. Radek Sikorski made the observation during a discussion marking the 25th anniversary of Poland\u2019s accession to NATO in the Polish parliament Friday, and the Foreign Ministry tweeted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-236636","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236636\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}