BRUSSELS (NEWSnet/AP) — The countries of Germany and Poland affirmed Tuesday that they would not be sending troops to Ukraine, following up on news reports that some Western countries may be considering that option.

The head of NATO also said the U.S.-led military alliance has no plans to send troops to Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron had said Monday that sending Western troops on the ground in Ukraine is not “ruled out” in the future after the issue was debated at a gathering of European leaders in Paris, as Russia’s invasion moves into a third year.

The French leader said that “we will do everything needed so Russia cannot win the war” after the meeting of over 20 European heads of state and government and other Western officials.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, warned that a direct conflict between NATO and Russia would be inevitable if the alliance sends combat troops. “In this case, we need to talk not about probability, but about the inevitability (of conflict),” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz appeared to have a different view of what happened in Paris. He said the participants had agreed “that there will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil who are sent there by European states or NATO states.”

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has said his government is not planning to propose a deployment, but that some countries were weighing whether to strike bilateral deals to provide troops to help Ukraine fend off the Russian invasion. Fico did not provide details about which countries or what the troops would do in Ukraine.

Macron, too, avoided naming any countries, saying he wanted to maintain “strategic ambiguity” and not tip the West's hand to Russia.

NATO as an alliance provides Ukraine only non-lethal aid and support like medical supplies, uniforms and winter equipment. But some members send weapons and ammunition of their own accord, bilaterally or in groups.

A decision to send troops and keep them deployed long term would require the kind of transport and logistics capabilities that only a few countries could handle.

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