President Macron Urges Allies Not to Be Cowardly Against Ukraine

JAKARTA - French President Emmanuel Macron told expatriates in Prague, Czech Republic on Tuesday that it was time for Ukraine's allies to take action, adding a moment was approaching "in our Europe where it would be more appropriate not to be cowards."

President Macron faced a strong reaction from many Western allies, after he discussed the idea of ​​sending Western troops to Ukraine at a conference on Ukraine held in Paris on February 26.

But during a visit to Prague on Tuesday, President Macron said he stood by his statement that a "strategic leap" was necessary, as reported by Reuters, March 6.

Referring to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, President Macron said France and the Czech Republic were "well aware that war is again on our territory (in Europe), that some unstoppable powers are every day expanding their threats to attack us even more, and we must live up to history and the courage it requires.”

On the same occasion President Macron also emphasized his support for the plan announced last month by the Czech Republic, supported by Canada, Denmark and other countries, to finance the rapid purchase of hundreds of thousands of ammunition from third countries then sent to Ukraine.

Ukraine is desperately short of artillery shells as its forces try to hold off Russian forces returning to the east, two years after Moscow launched a full-scale invasion.

President Macron did not say what France would contribute to the initiative, adding that ministers would work to make it happen.

But he opened the door to using European funds for this.

One of the key issues for France is funding the initiative, given that the country has long pushed for the EU to use European funding only for Europe's defense industry and opposes the idea of ​​purchases for outside the bloc.

"We support this initiative and we are ready to contribute to it," President Macron said of the Czech plans.

Despite previous doubts about using EU funds to buy goods abroad, he said: "I think in this context it can be done bilaterally, it can be done in cooperation with third parties, with bilateral financing or European funding, namely the Peace Facility Europe, part of which can be mobilized for this initiative."

Last month, the Netherlands said they would donate 100 million euros to the Czech initiative.

It is known that, following President Macron's comments last February, French officials later explained that the president's intention was to stimulate debate, that the ideas being discussed involved non-combat troops in roles such as demining, border protection, or training Ukrainian troops.