Macron again refuses to rule out sending Western troops to Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated that he is not ruling out sending Western ground troops to Ukraine to avert a Russian victory.

"All of these options are possible," Macron told television channels TF1 and France 2 on Thursday evening. "To achieve peace in Ukraine, you cannot be weak," he said.

"We must look at the situation soberly and we must say with determination, will and courage that we are ready to use the means necessary to achieve our goal of ensuring that Russia does not win the war."

Since Russia is not setting any limits on its war of aggression against Ukraine, the West does not have to impose any limits on its support for the country in advance, Macron said.

"The only one who would be responsible is the regime in the Kremlin - that is not us," said the president. "We will never lead an offensive, we will never take the initiative, France is a power of peace."

"If Russia won, the lives of the French would change. We will no longer have security in Europe,” said Macron, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin's appetite for territory may not stop with Ukraine.

"Wanting peace today means not letting Ukraine fall."

Macron spoke on the eve of meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Berlin on Friday.

The meeting will take place almost three weeks after a Ukraine strategy conference in Paris, to which Macron invited around 20 heads of state and government and which ended in a minor scandal.

At the closing press conference, Macron did not rule out sending Western ground troops to Ukraine - a position which Germany refuted several times in the following days.