Macron's musings about ground troops send Ukraine's allies running for cover

If it were any other time — and if the stakes weren't so high — the swift international slapdown that followed French President Emmanuel Macron's recent comments on Ukraine might have been funny.

On Monday, Macron refused to rule out sending ground troops to Ukraine. The words were barely out of his mouth before startled allies and leaders around the globe started to wind them back, pour cold water on them and even refute them outright.

The speed with which nations lined up to have a crack at Macron was jaw-dropping. It was left to France's defence minister, Sébastien Lecornu, to reframe what his boss had said by referring to discussions among allies about sending soldiers to carry out demining and military training in Ukraine — well away from the front lines.

«It's not sending troops to wage war against Russia,» Lecornu said.

As if that would please Moscow any better.

The idea of dispatching western troops to Ukraine in any capacity has been unthinkable since the onset of major hostilities two years ago. NATO has made it quite clear it means to avoid being dragged into a wider war with nuclear-armed Russia.

Macron's comments were interesting in part because he wasn't talking about an alliance-wide initiative (which would require consensus among all 31 members) but rather an individual bilateral initiative of the sort that's used to help train and arm Ukraine's military.

Even so, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and even the United States swiftly disavowed his idea.

Canada's response was a little muddled by comparison. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland avoided directly refuting Macron's suggestion on Tuesday. It was left to a spokesperson for Defence Minister Bill Blair to articulate the country's position.

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