NATO and EU nations could soon deploy troops to Ukraine, a European leader has claimed.
Fears are ramping up that Vladimir Putin could expand his invasion and even push into Europe after Donald Trump threatened to pull the US out of Nato.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico – a pro-Russia populist – warned some Western nations were preparing to put boots on the ground in the war-torn country on a “bilateral basis”.
Fico, who offered no evidence to support his claims and has so far opposed military aid to Ukraine, was speaking ahead of a meeting of European leaders in Paris.
He said: “I will limit myself to say that these topics (in preparation for the meeting) imply a number of Nato and EU member states are considering that they will send their troops to Ukraine on a bilateral basis.
“I cannot say for what purpose and what they should be doing there.”
Fico added that Slovakia, a member of the EU and Nato, would not be sending soldiers to Ukraine – and commentators fear he was trying to stir up trouble with his remarks.
The Czech PM and Hungary have both said sending soldiers to Ukraine is out of the question.
Nato members including the UK have supplied billions of dollars in arms and ammunition to Kyiv and are training Ukrainian forces.
Western allies have also already committed to boosting their presence in Ukraine after the war.
But Nato leaders including US President Joe Biden have underlined that the Western military alliance wants to avoid a direct conflict with Russia, which could lead to a global war.
At the meeting in Paris on Monday, French leader Emmanuel Macron opened the door to European nations sending soldiers to Ukraine.
He said: “There’s no consensus today to send in an official, endorsed manner troops on the ground. But in terms of dynamics, nothing can be ruled out.
“Nothing should be excluded. We will do everything that we must so that Russia does not win.”
But Nato’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has insisted Nato has no place to send combat troops into Ukraine.
He said: “NATO allies are providing unprecedented support to Ukraine. We have done that since 2014 and stepped up after the full-scale invasion.
“But there are no plans for NATO combat troops on the ground in Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, Macron also warned that Russia could be plotting to attack Nato countries in the next few years.
He said Moscow’s actions in recent weeks indicated a terrifying escalation.
Macron said: “I noted that more or less all the countries represented at this table said … that the general consensus was that we should be ready in a few years for a Russian attack on (those) countries.”
In response to Macron’s statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said confrontation between Russia and Nato is “inevitable”.
The Government warned earlier this year of a one in four chance that Putin could launch an attack on a British ally within the next two years.
But it is feared if Donald Trump gets back into the White House, he could see through his threat of pulling the US out of Nato – leaving Western allies vulnerable.
Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon said the US abandoning its allies would be the “worst possible case scenario”.
He warned it could spur Putin on to invade more of Europe.
Mr de Bretton-Gordon told The Sun: “Without the US, Nato is very much weakened though the arrival of Finland and Sweden is a little compensation.
“But the message it would send to Putin is dreadful and would embolden Putin to push harder in Ukraine and ultimately Europe.
“At least the UK and France still have the nuclear deterrent which will give Putin something to think about.
“If this scenario looks likely the UK and other European Nato countries need to re-arm at pace and I expect be prepared to commit boots on the ground in Ukraine to stop Russian advances westwards.
“This is the worst possible case scenario at the moment.”
