NATO is One Step Away from Sending Troops to Ukraine
General Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, to the New York Times: “Such development is ultimately inevitable”
Another “red line” is about to be crossed in the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine. NATO member states are reportedly “gradually approaching” the idea of sending Atlantic Alliance troops to Ukraine. Not to fight yet, but to “train the armed forces” of Kiev. This was reported by the American newspaper “New York Times,” emphasizing that sending NATO soldiers to Ukrainian soil “will lead to the disappearance of another red line” observed so far by the United States and European countries to avoid a direct military confrontation with Russia.
In a lengthy article entitled “As Russia Advances, NATO Considers Sending Trainers Into Ukraine,” it was Ukraine’s military leaders who asked NATO to send Alliance military personnel “to help Ukrainian officers train some 150,000 recruits as close to the front lines as possible to speed their deployment on the ground.”
The newspaper recalls that “so far the United States has said no,” but the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., said this development was ultimately inevitable: “We’ll get there eventually, over time.” According to the star-spangled general, the situation on the front “must first be stabilized to prevent the resources, needed to protect NATO forces, from being taken away from efforts to repel a new Russian offensive” towards Kharkiv.
According to the New York Times’ findings, sending NATO soldiers to Ukraine, even as “advisers and trainers” with the inherent risk of attack by Russian forces, “could lead the United States to send military intervention against Russia based on commitments signed as a member of the Alliance.” In the more than two years since the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine that erupted on February 24, 2022, the White House has always stated that it “will not send US soldiers to Ukraine, not even trainers,” and has urged other NATO countries to refrain from initiatives of this nature as well.
Nevertheless, as the New York Times reminds, French President Emmanuel Macron said in February that “no option can be ruled out when it comes to sending Western troops to Ukraine.” Macron has since repeated the thesis several times, even after some senior US diplomats asked him to stop.