Polish FM acknowledges NATO presence in Ukraine, Kremlin responds

After the Polish foreign minister stated that NATO forces are present in Ukraine, the Kremlin responded by stating it would be ‘pointless’ to deny the fact.

During the debate on the 25th anniversary of Poland’s accession to NATO, Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski (Civic Platform, EPP) stated that NATO forces have been deployed in Ukraine.

“Soldiers from NATO countries are already in Ukraine, and I would like to thank the ambassadors of those countries that took such a risk,” Sikorski said on Friday. He did not name the countries that have sent troops to Ukraine, saying they “know best” which countries he was talking about.

The troops sent are not intended to engage in direct combat together with Ukrainian forces. According to Onet, the minister referred to military instructors who would train Ukrainians in using Western equipment, among other things.

Sikorski added that the current raison d’état for Poland is Russia losing the war in Ukraine and Kyiv winning it “this and next year, hopefully as soon as possible”.

The Polish minister’s statement drew a reaction from Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

“There is no point in denying” the presence of NATO forces in Ukraine, she told the Izvestia newspaper.

The discussion about potentially sending the NATO countries’ forces to fight in Ukraine started from last month’s statement by French President Emmanuel Macron.

According to L’Independant, he recently told the parties’ leaders that he would be ready to send the French forces if the war front reached Odesa or Kyiv.

Some media also spoke of France’s attempts to win the support of the Baltic states for the participation of NATO forces in efforts such as mine clearance, which was reportedly a goal of Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné’s recent visit to Lithuania.

Poland will not send its forces to Ukraine, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said after Macron’s statement, while some media reported that the Baltics were more open to such an idea.

Read more: NATO support in Ukraine not against international rules, says Czech president

Still, Sikorski’s statement on Friday that the full NATO presence in Ukraine “is not unthinkable” has been interpreted by some as a sign of Poland changing its position as well.

“I appreciate President Macron’s initiative because it is about making Putin fear us, not us fear Putin,” the minister told the debate at the Warsaw University.

On the other hand, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg distanced himself from Macron’s statement Western allies should not rule out deploying troops to Ukraine.

“NATO has no plans to send troops to Ukraine, and NATO is not a party to the conflict, nor are Nato allies,” Stoltenberg told Reuters in an interview published on Monday (11 March).

Asked whether Macron made a mistake by talking of “strategic ambiguity” on the possible deployment of Western troops to Ukraine, Stoltenberg called it “important that we consult and that we have a common approach to these important topics because they matter for all of us.”

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)