In March, Sergey Naryshkin, the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), claimed that America's oldest ally was preparing to send soldiers to an active war zone. Naryshkin's assertion, made through state-run media, implied that France was deploying 2,000 troops to Ukraine, a statement universally viewed as part of a disinformation campaign.
While the deployment of combat troops is not under consideration, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, told Reuters that he had approved a proposal allowing French military trainers to visit Ukrainian recruit depots. “I am pleased to welcome France's initiative to send instructors to Ukraine to train Ukrainian servicemen,” Syrskyi said following discussions with French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu. He added, “I have already signed the documents that will enable the first French instructors to visit our training centers shortly and familiarize themselves with their infrastructure and personnel.” (RELATED: US ICBM Test Fails As Russia Fires New Nuke Missile From New Sub)
The plan's timeline is unclear, but according to Newsweek, the first advisers could be on the ground within days:
The development was reported Thursday by French newspaper Le Monde, citing sources familiar with the matter. This came days after Ukraine's top commander, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said he had signed paperwork permitting France to send military instructors to his country to train Ukrainian forces “and familiarize themselves with their infrastructure and personnel.”
France, alongside Ukraine's other NATO allies, has trained more than 100,000 troops since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022, doing so within the European Union. Shortly after Syrskyi's announcement, Ukraine's Defense Ministry issued a “clarification” saying Kyiv was “still in discussions with France and other countries on this.”
According to Le Monde‘s sources, Ukraine was forced to tone down its comments on the possible deployment of French instructors to the war-torn country. Discussions on the matter should accelerate in the coming days, they said, and an announcement could be made during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky‘s visit to France next week.
France would initially send a few dozen personnel “in order to identify training needs” before deploying several hundred more, the sources said.
Earlier this year, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that he would not rule out any measures to prevent Russia from winning the war in Ukraine, which has evolved into a bruising battle of attrition. This included the possibility of deploying Western troops to Ukraine. “Nothing should be ruled out,” Macron said, emphasizing France's commitment to hindering Russian advances.
Macron's comments elicited a fiery response from the Kremlin and led to noticeable backtracking from other European countries. A NATO official informed CNN at the time that the alliance had no plans to send combat troops to Ukraine.
With the possibility of a Russian summer offensive on the horizon, most NATO members, along with U.S. military officials and bipartisan representatives in Congress, are advocating for the lifting of restrictions that greatly limit Ukraine's ability to strike Russia using U.S.-supplied long-range weapons. (RELATED: Russia Upgrades Facility Near Ukraine, Raising Concerns Of Nuclear Weapon Storage)
Feeling the heat, the Biden administration appears increasingly likely to ease up on its guidelines, especially after Russia launched an operation a few dozen kilometers north of Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv. Kyiv is also warning that Moscow is preparing to open a new front in the neighboring Sumy region.
