Participants of Paris meeting agree not to send military to Ukraine — Canadian top brass

Western countries agreed not to send their servicemen to Ukraine at a meeting in Paris held on February 26, Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair told the Toronto Star newspaper.

According to him, Kiev's allies have discussed the possibility of training Ukrainian military service members by Western soldiers on the country's territory. "We've been training Ukrainians everywhere, but I think there was some acknowledgment that some of that training is challenging" by the fact that it is difficult to take Ukrainians out of the country for training, the minister said.

Blair mentioned that at the meeting in Paris, the question was raised whether Western countries could educate Ukrainian fighters more effectively by training them on their country's territory. Some states, according to the minister, expressed concern that such steps could be seen as participation in hostilities.

The minister added that he does not want to station Canadian Armed Forces personnel close to the theater of operations, which could make it appear as if we are partially engaged in combat.

On February 26, French President Emmanuel Macron said that at a meeting in Paris, where representatives of about 20 Western countries discussed further support for Ukraine in the conflict with Russia, the topic of the potential deployment by Western countries of their own ground troops to Ukraine was raised. According to him, the participants did not reach a consensus on this issue, but such a scenario cannot be ruled out in the future. After the conference, representatives of most of the participating countries said that they were not planning to send troops to Ukraine and, moreover, that they opposed their involvement in military hostilities against Russia.