Italian Defence Minister rules out sending troops to Ukraine

Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto has once again rejected the idea proposed by the French president that Western allies could potentially send their troops to Ukraine.

Crosetto, in an interview with the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, criticised the position of French President Emmanuel Macron, who has not ruled out the deployment of Western troops to Ukraine and believes that Western countries should not give Moscow a clear understanding of what they will or will not do while supporting Ukraine. 

Crosetto believes that the discussion about the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine increases tension. 

"Our position remains unchanged: we have always said that Ukraine needs to be helped in every possible way and we are doing that. But we have also always ruled out direct military intervention that involves our troops," he said.  

Rome's reaction was the same after the initial wave of publicity surrounding Macron's statement in early March. 

Meanwhile, Radosław Sikorski, Poland's Minister of Foreign Affairs, supported Macron's position that the Kremlin should be kept in the dark about the West's possible next steps.