German defence minister comments on the idea of deploying troops in Ukraine

German Defence Minister Boris P istorius has said that discussions about the possible deployment of Western troops in Ukraine should be stopped. Boris Pistorius said this during a visit to Finland on 8 March, Zeit Online has reported.

Federal Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has called for an end to discussions about the possible deployment of Western ground troops in Ukraine.

No one really wants ground troops in Ukraine, there is a discussion about it now, so we should stop it at this stage," Pistorius said during a visit to the Finnish capital Helsinki.

Finnish Defence Minister Antti Hakkänen said in turn:

Right now nobody supports the idea of ground troops. But everyone supports increased support in the form of weapons, ammunition and money, and that is what we should focus on now.

Pistorius also called for greater protection for German civilians.

This needs to be addressed quickly, "because of course the protection of the population, civil protection, is always the flip side of military threat and defence capability," the minister said.

Even during the Cold War, Germany only had bunkers for ten per cent of the population. This topic will be discussed in the Federal Cabinet.

We will remind, earlier Emmanuel Macron discussed with politicians the possible dispatch of French ground troops to Ukraine.