French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a project to mobilize more young volunteers to strengthen the French military in the midst of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. In a speech to the military on Monday, the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US President, Macron justified this step by stating that France must prepare for an “accumulation of threats”: “Let’s not fool ourselves, the conflict in Ukraine will not end tomorrow or the day after” he emphasized.
During his presidential campaign, Trump had repeatedly promised to end the fighting between Moscow and Kiev quickly, should he return to the White House.
Macron further explained that he had asked the government and military leadership to submit proposals by May to enable young volunteers to learn with the military and strengthen its ranks.
“We must find and train volunteers, and be able to mobilize them when the day comes that we need to reinforce our military on French soil or elsewhere” he said.
By recruiting more volunteers, France aims to strengthen its military without reintroducing the conscription abolished in 2001. Paris is striving to have 210,000 active soldiers and 80,000 reservists in the military by 2030.
Macron confirmed that the challenge for France and other EU countries today is to enable Ukraine to hold out and enter future negotiations with a strong position. “The challenge for tomorrow, after the end of hostilities” will be to provide Ukraine with guarantees against a return of the war to its territory and guarantees for its own security, he said.
According to media reports, Macron discussed the idea of sending Western troops as part of a peacekeeping force to Ukraine with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in this month. Tusk, however, stated that Warsaw has no plans for such a step.
Moscow has repeatedly emphasized that it would consider as legitimate targets the foreign soldiers stationed in Ukraine. In the previous month, the Kremlin stated that the question of peacekeeping troops could be part of future negotiations over Ukraine, but warned that there are currently no conditions for the start of peace talks.
Earlier, the Russian foreign intelligence service had warned that the West aimed to freeze the conflict by sending 100,000 peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, effectively occupying the country and giving Kiev a temporary reprieve to prepare for a future conflict with Moscow.