Macron discusses deploying 6,000 troops to Ukraine with MPs
Two days after the meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, French President Emmanuel Macron has convened political parties represented in parliament to outline a plan to deploy several thousand French soldiers to Ukraine after a peace deal is signed.
Source: Le Monde; European Pravda
Details: The closed meeting was attended by the prime minister, the armed forces minister, the chief of the Defence Staff, the presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate, parliamentary group leaders, party leaders and the chairs of the parliament's foreign affairs and defence committees.
Around 30 people took part in the discussions. All political forces were represented, including those least supportive of sending troops to Ukraine, such as the Rassemblement national (RN) and La France Insoumise (LFI).
Paris could send "6,000 French troops" to Ukraine, according to Mathilde Panot, leader of LFI's parliamentary group.
People close to the French president said that Macron wanted to share "confidential details" of France's contribution "so that everyone fully understands the scale and nature of the challenges". The president stressed what he described as "significant progress" in US support of the security guarantees which European countries would provide to Ukraine.
No one around the table voiced a fundamental objection to the mechanism presented by Macron. Some MPs even saw the Coalition of the Willing as a possible alternative to NATO. By contrast, a US pledge to intervene if Russia breached a potential ceasefire prompted debate.
"Macron says he has received security guarantees from the Americans, but I do not trust American promises at this point," Jean-Louis Thiériot, a Republican MP and member of the National Assembly defence committee, told Le Monde.
"There is no reason to trust Donald Trump, all the more so as he is threatening many countries in Latin America," Mathilde Panot said as she left the Élysée Palace.
Chief of the Defence Staff Fabien Mandon said at the meeting that "French forces will be neither a mediation force nor a stabilisation force" but rather "a force to sustain the Ukrainian forces' confidence".
"We will not be on the front line, but we are here to support the Ukrainian army," Macron stressed, insisting that international forces would support Ukrainians "far from the front line".
However, LFI "does not agree to French soldiers being deployed under these conditions" and will demand a "UN mandate" if the question arises, Panot said.
Fabien Roussel, National Secretary of the French Communist Party, warned of escalation and argued for "UN peacekeepers".
Marine Le Pen, RN faction's leader in the National Assembly, said that allies cannot count on the Americans after the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and also demanded that any troop deployment be under a UN mandate.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu agreed on the "need to involve parliament in discussions". He said that a debate would take place "within two to three weeks" under Article 50-1 of the French constitution, with or without a vote.
Media reports have suggested that the overall strength of the Coalition of the Willing contingent in Ukraine could be 15,000 personnel, with half provided by the UK.
Background: The UK and France pledged in a declaration on 6 January 2026 to deploy troops in Ukraine if a peace agreement is reached.
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