Warns Of Sending NATO Troops To Ukraine Causes Great Danger, Russia: This Is A Provocation

Russia has again issued a firm warning that sending troops from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to Ukraine's battlefield has the potential to pose a major danger, viewing it as a provocation, carefully observing Ukrainian petitions calling for such interventions.

The petition, posted on the Ukrainian President's website, said Ukraine should ask the United States, Britain, and other countries to send troops to help the country drive away the Russian invasion.

"Kyiv's regime is highly unpredictable," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked about this in a daily briefing.

It is not yet clear whether the petition will garner the required number of votes, 25,000 votes, to require President Volodymyr Zelensky to respond by approving or rejecting it. As of Wednesday morning, the petition had garnered 1,594 votes.

NATO, which supports Ukraine in the war, has so far provided a wide range of weapons, including tanks and long-range missiles, but has not intervened directly with troops, something US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin have warned could lead to a Third World War.

"We have repeatedly said that direct interventions on the ground in this conflict by NATO-state militaries have the potential to pose enormous danger, so we consider this a very challenging provocation, and, of course, we are watching it very carefully," Peskov said.

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron said questions about sending Western troops to Ukraine would appear "legally" if Russia broke through the Ukrainian line and Kyiv asked him to.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday Russia would target French troops if they were sent to Ukraine.

"If France appeared in the conflict zone, they would definitely be the targets of the Russian armed forces. In my opinion, Paris already has evidence of this," said Zakharova.

Zakharova said Russia had seen more and more French nationals among those killed in Ukraine.