On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned France that if President Emmanuel Macron sends troops to Ukraine, they will be considered legitimate targets by the Russian military. UNN reports this with reference to Reuters.
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Macron sparked controversy in February when he said he did not rule out deploying ground troops to Ukraine in the future. The French leader warned that if Russia wins in Ukraine, Europe's credibility will be reduced to zero.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that "it is characteristic that Macron himself explains this rhetoric by the desire to create some kind of 'strategic uncertainty' for Russia."
"We have to disappoint him - for us, the situation looks more than certain. If the French appear in the conflict zone, they will inevitably become targets for the Russian armed forces. It seems to me that Paris already has evidence of this," Zakharova said.
According to Zakharova, Russia is already seeing an increase in the number of French citizens among those killed in Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that he does not rule out sending ground troops to Ukraine and that to rule it out a priori is to fail to learn the lessons of the last two years.
After that, the Russian Federation announced that the General Staff had begun preparations for the upcoming exercises to practice the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons. The exercises will be held in response to Western statements about sending troops to Ukraine.