German Defense Minister Pistorius urges colleagues to end debate on sending troops to Ukraine

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius called for an end to the debate about the possible deployment of Western ground troops to Ukraine, he announced during a visit to Helsinki, FAZ reported.

According to him, "no one really wants to have soldiers in Ukraine."

"There is an ongoing discussion about this, so we have to stop it at this stage," Pistorius said.

The Finnish Defense Minister, Antti Hakkianen, supported his colleague and stated that "no one supports the idea of boots on the ground."

"But everyone supports a lot of support in the form of weapons, ammunition and money, and this is what we should prioritize. Now focus," the minister stressed.

At a meeting to support Ukraine, which was called by French President Macron on February 26, European leaders discussed the possibility of sending NATO ground troops to Ukraine.

On March 5, Macron made it clear that his statement about the possible deployment of troops to Ukraine was "the opening of a debate."

Czech President Petr Pavel also said that the West should not "close the possibilities of supporting Ukraine", and called for the expansion of forms of assistance, in particular, a possible presence in Ukraine.