Macron Insists Ukraine Comments 'Measured' and 'Thought Through'

French President Emmanuel Macron became the first Western leader to publicly discuss deploying soldiers to Ukraine to fight Russia, triggering a stampede of NATO allies distancing themselves from the idea and threats of nuclear war by the Kremlin, but despite the blowback Macron insists his position is “measured”, and critics have even been accused of being Putin stooges.

Each of President Macron’s words on refusing to rule out the possibility of deploying NATO troops to Ukraine against Russia is weighed, measured, and thought through, the French leader insists as he weathers significant backlash from his comments on Monday. Macron insisted on Thursday that given the seriousness of the matter at hand, he had said what he meant and there was no space for ambiguity.

French broadcaster BFMTV reports on Macron’s doubling-down, that he said today in response to a question posed as he attended the opening of the Paris Olympic village for the forthcoming games: “These are sufficiently serious subjects. Each of the words I say on this matter is weighed, thought out and measured”.

On Monday, President Macron became the first NATO leader to speculate openly about actually sending Western troops to Ukraine to fight. Speaking as he hosted a crisis meeting for European leaders on Ukraine in Paris, the President said sending troops to Ukraine “could not be ruled out” and Western allies must “do whatever we can to obtain our objective”, defeating Russia.

On one hand, Macron acknowledged there was no “consensus” for war with Russia yet, but also noted how quickly attitudes had changed towards donations of equipment to Ukraine had shifted. Compared to the situation in 2024 where fighter jets, tanks, and cruise missiles had been given to Kyiv, Macron noted how Ukraine’s backers were initially only happy to hand over “sleeping bags and helmets”.

Macron’s bellicose rhetoric was quickly met with strong rebuttals from European and NATO leaders. A British defence ministry spokesman decried the plan as a “major escalation” and a spokesman for the Prime Ministers said there were no plans for a “large-scale deployment”. Germany was absolutely clear on the matter, responding to Macron that: “One thing is clear: There will be no ground troops from European states or NATO. That’s true.”

NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg was also clear Macron’s plan did not find favour, saying: “there are no plans for Nato combat troops on the ground in Ukraine.”

The United States, perhaps most non-commital of all, said through National Security Council spokesman John Kirby that while sending troops is a matter for sovereign nations to decide themselves, the United States has been “crystal clear” its own troops would not find a combat role in Ukraine.

Rejection from his national leader peers or not, Macron’s insistence that his comments were “measured” and his government’s attacks on dissidents in France itself suggests he will stick to his guns for now. As reported, Macron ally and newly installed Prime Minister Gabriel Attal launched an attack on populist-right leader Marine Le Pen when she criticised the notion of sending French troops to die in Ukraine, accusing her of being a Putin footsoldier.