Italian PM reveals how she rebuked Macron on Ukraine troops

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said that she told French President Emmanuel Macron about her disagreement with his recent remarks about the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine.

Meloni reiterated her opposition to any kind of direct military involvement on the Rete4 talk show on Wednesday night.

“I did not agree with Emmanuel Macron’s words about the Ukraine conflict and I told him so,” she said. “I am convinced that we must pay attention to the tones we use.”

The prime minister also touched upon recent discussions at an EU summit on civil protection that have sparked media speculation about Europe preparing for war. The summit was “exclusively about coordinated actions on protecting the population in the event of natural disasters,” she said.

Numerous Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, have publicly ruled out sending NATO troops to Ukraine following Emmanuel Macron’s comments last month that he “cannot exclude” such a possibility.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also refuted the idea shortly after Macron’s initial statement, stating that there were no plans to deploy troops to Ukraine.

Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina insisted at a joint press conference with Scholz on Wednesday that NATO states are not ready for talks about sending ground forces.

Moscow has warned that NATO troops in Ukraine would likely make a direct confrontation between Russia and the US-led bloc inevitable. Russia considers the Ukraine conflict to be a proxy war by the West, and has repeatedly said that by aiding Kiev, NATO members are prolonging the hostilities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called “nonsense” claims by Ukraine and its allies that Russia will target NATO states. In another interview, he stressed that Moscow would treat Western troops as “invaders” if they are deployed to Ukraine, and respond accordingly.