In reaction to what the French President said, Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, said that there would be war if NATO sent troops into Ukraine.
In his state-of-the-nation speech, Putin said, “The West needs to understand that we also have weapons that can hit targets in their countries.” All of this makes a nuclear war and the end of humanity seem like a real possibility. Do they not understand?”
Trump said that NATO would pull its troops out of Ukraine to help end the war with Russia. Putin’s comments are a clear response to Macron’s comments. Macron’s comments were not liked by any member of NATO because they would lead to a fight with Russia on their behalf.
Macron said that NATO had not talked about sending troops to Ukraine, but that the idea “hasn’t been ruled out.” Many NATO leaders later talked about these comments when they said they wouldn’t send troops to Ukraine because it would “inevitably” lead to a war with Russia.
Putin said that the West was trying to start an “arms race” with them, but he also said that he was willing to talk to the US. He said Russia was facing “international terrorism” and began his speech by saying, “We shall overcome anything together.” He then thanked the Russians for sticking together.
“Our Motherland is standing up for its sovereignty and security,” Putin said. He then observed a moment of silence for Russian soldiers. Afterwards, he praised the troops and talked about how they’d learned a lot from fighting in Ukraine. Putin’s speech lasted an hour and talked about many different things, such as “the internal political calendar.”
