Lavrov pointed to the aggravation of the situation by EU statements on sending troops to Ukraine

Statements by European politicians about sending troops to Ukraine only aggravate the situation. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on Thursday, November 5, following the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting.

"I believe that all these fantasies [about sending troops] only aggravate the situation," he said.

The diplomat noted that the leaders of European Union (EU) states that make such proposals prefer to stubbornly ignore the warnings issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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How far the U.S. and its allies can go and whether the "red lines" in the Ukrainian conflict are still in place

Earlier, on December 1, the new head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, said that the likelihood of European countries sending troops to Ukraine cannot be ruled out. Kallas also suggested that in case of a ceasefire, Europe could "send peacekeeping forces" to monitor compliance with it. However, the final decision remains with Kiev.

Prior to that, on November 28, the head of Poland's National Security Bureau, Jacek Severa, said on Radio Zet that sending NATO troops to Ukraine at this stage of the conflict would be the wrong decision.

On the same day, the secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Mark Rutte, said that he did not think it was a wise decision to deploy NATO military forces in the conflict in Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly said that he does not rule out the possible dispatch of the military. Back in May, he said that a condition for this would be a request from Kiev or a breakthrough of Russian troops on the front. According to him, the caution of European countries would "push Russia into an offensive." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called such talk very dangerous.

Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Ukraine amid Russia's special operation to defend Donbass, which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, after the situation in the region worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.