Westerners “must not set a red line” in their support for Ukraine, believes Jean-Noël Barrot

“We will support Ukraine as intensely and as long as necessary.” Jean-Noël Barrot's message is clear. In an interview with the BBC broadcast this Saturday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs urged Western allies to help kyiv in its war without setting limits or conditions. “For what ? Because it’s our safety that is at stake.”argues the head of French diplomacy. “Every time the Russian army advances one square kilometer, the threat moves one square kilometer closer to Europe.”

With this in mind, Jean-Noël Barrot urges Westerners to “do not set or express red lines” on the scope and duration of the aid. A statement loaded with meaning, five days after kyiv struck Russian territory for the first time with long-range American missiles. After the “green light” from Washington mentioned on Sunday in the American press, the Ukrainian army attacked the Russian region of Bryansk during the night from Monday to Tuesday with these weapons with a range of up to 300 km.

After the United States, could France also agree to the use of such weapons? Yes, “in a logic of self-defense”replies Jean-Noël Barrot, without however confirming whether French weapons had already been used. Already on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron had judged “completely good” the US decision to allow kyiv to use long-range missiles in Russia.

“No option” ruled out

During this interview, broadcast the day after a meeting in London with his British counterpart David Lammy, Jean-Noël Barrot said he also encouraged, on a geopolitical level, Ukraine's accession to NATO. An accession that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calls for. “We are open to an invitation”affirmed the host of the Quai d'Orsay, indicating that on this aspect, France is putting pressure on the “friends and allies of Ukraine”pour “bring them closer to our positions”. As for sending ground troops, what does the minister think? “We are not ruling out any option”persisted Jean-Noël Barrot.

A response that echoes that of President Emmanuel Macron last February. During an international conference in support of Ukraine, the head of state declared that sending Western ground troops to Ukraine should not be “to be excluded”considering nevertheless that there was no “no consensus” at this stage for this hypothesis. The head of state advocated a “strategic ambiguity” assumed, “I absolutely did not say that France was not in favor of it”he declared, simply specifying that “It was mentioned among the options.” In May, it was also in a British media, The Economist that Emmanuel Macron reiterated this position.