Latvia opposes NATO sending troops to Ukraine.

The Latvian Prime Minister said NATO is not ready to discuss sending troops to Ukraine, and that the alliance should instead focus on providing military and financial support to Kyiv.

"Sending troops is not what Ukraine is actually asking us to do right now," Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina said in Berlin after a meeting with her German counterpart Olaf Scholz on March 27. "They are asking for other things, and I believe we need to focus on those issues."

According to Silina, Western allies should focus on purchasing and transferring the weapons and ammunition that Ukraine needs to counter Russia.

"Latvia and Germany have joined the Czech initiative. We are buying ammunition from outside Europe to provide faster aid to Ukraine," the Latvian Prime Minister added. Latvia, along with the UK, aims to supply Ukraine with one million unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and is working to achieve this within a year.

Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina at a press conference with her German counterpart Olaf Scholz in Berlin on March 27. Photo: AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron declared in late February that he "does not rule out the possibility of the West sending troops to Ukraine," following a meeting of European leaders in Paris. Macron later clarified that this statement did not mean France would send troops to Ukraine in the near future. French officials asserted that Macron wanted to spark debate, but had no concrete plans.

The US, Germany, the UK, Poland, the Czech Republic, and many other European countries have stated they have no plans to send troops to Ukraine. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also dismissed this possibility. Meanwhile, on March 8, Poland stated that NATO troops were present in Ukraine, but did not specify which member states they were from.

The Kremlin warned that Western military intervention in Ukraine would lead to an "unavoidable" direct confrontation between NATO and Russia. In his State of the Union address at the end of February, President Vladimir Putin also noted that the consequences of intervention in Russia now would be more catastrophic than in previous periods, potentially leading to nuclear war.

By Tam (According to RT, Anadolu Agency )

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