French President Emmanuel Macron made a faux pas while talking to reporters this week on the sidelines of meetings in Paris with two dozen other European leaders regarding the state of the Ukraine war.

“We should not exclude that there might be a need for security that then justifies some elements of deployment,” Macron said. “But I’ve told you very clearly what France maintains as its position, which is a strategic ambiguity that I stand by.”

The French president admitted there is “no consensus” on the circumstances where Western nations might send troops to Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reaffirmed the position of NATO and the West regarding troop deployment has not changed. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said, “support does not include the presence of troops from European or Nato states on Ukrainian territory.” When documents outlining the topics of discussion for the Paris meeting circulated, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico broke his silence. “These topics,” he said, “imply that a number of NATO and EU member states are considering sending troops to Ukraine on a bilateral basis.” It’s enough to “send[ ] shivers down your spine.”

The White House released a statement saying, “President Biden has been clear that the U.S. will not send troops to fight in Ukraine.” U.S. diplomats were also present in Paris this week. 

The Kremlin responded to Macron’s remarks, suggesting that such brazen involvement would guarantee a wider war. “In this case, we would need to talk not about its likelihood, but about its inevitability,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

But Russia has been relatively patient with the West’s involvement in the Ukraine war, considering the circumstances. Leaked documents in April 2023 revealed that a number of Western countries have special forces on the ground. At the time, the U.K. had the most special forces personnel, 50, on the ground. Latvia had 17, France 15, and the U.S. 14. 

The U.K. Ministry of Defense cried misinformation: “Readers should be cautious about taking at face value allegations that have the potential to spread misinformation.” Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Department of Justice had opened an investigation into the leak. “We will continue to investigate and turn over every rock until we find the source of this and the extent of it,” Austin claimed. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. arrested Jack Teixeira of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.

Nearly a year later, Russia has Ukraine on the ropes. Ukraine’s counteroffensive failed. It has burned through nearly all its young men—the average age of a Ukrainian soldier is in the forties. Yet, western aid has continued to flow. How many more service members have accompanied that aid?