Estonian PM refuses to guarantee non-deployment of troops to Ukraine

Kaja Kallas, Prime Minister of Estonia, has refused to guarantee that the Estonian Defence Forces will not be deployed to Ukraine.

As reported by ERR, the main topic of the hour was the Europe-wide debate about direct aid to Ukraine, kickstarted by French President Emmanuel Macron's statement about foreign troops on Ukrainian territory. 

After members of the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) once again demanded guarantees that Estonian troops would not be sent to Ukraine, Kallas emphasised that she would make no such promise.

Guarantees were also demanded of the Estonian PM that the Estonian Defence Forces would not intervene in the conflict.

"I do not make such promises because circumstances may change. Under your definition, it seems that any action could be considered intervention. Our military assistance to Ukraine could also be seen by Russia as intervention because we really want Ukraine to win; we really want Russia to lose and return to its [pre-2014] borders," Kallas replied during an address to the parliament.

French President Emmanuel Macron said after a meeting in Paris on Monday that he had not ruled out sending Western troops to Ukraine in the future, although he emphasised that there is currently no consensus among the allies. The French government later explained that the participation of foreign troops in the fighting was out of the question. 

At the same time, Macron's statements provoked a negative reaction from the governments of the allied countries, whose leaders were quick to assure that they would not send any troops to Ukraine. 

He later added that his statement had not been made on a whim.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba believes that French President Emmanuel Macron's statement has triggered a discussion that will "save Europe a lot of time" in realising that it has to do more to support Ukraine.