BRUSSELS – French President Emmanuel Macron has been harshly criticized by allies for suggesting the deployment of NATO troops to Ukraine, but his stance has won him potentially valuable support from a key member of the European Parliament in Germany.

Michael Galle, vice-president of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, warned that NATO was playing into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin by ruling out other options.

“Unlike Putin, we set red lines for ourselves and said things we wouldn’t do,” Galle said. I. “We should retain strategic ambiguity and not tell the guy in the Kremlin what we are doing or what we are not doing.”

So far, NATO has been limited to training Ukrainian troops and providing them with defensive weapons. Many allies were quick to dismiss suggestions that NATO might be on the ground after Macron said on Tuesday that he “would not rule out sending Western troops to fight in Ukraine.”

Britain, Germany, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy and Hungary have all ruled out sending troops, with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg saying: “NATO has no plans to deploy ground combat troops in Ukraine.”

Putin also warned that if NATO sends troops to intervene in Ukraine, it will have “tragic” consequences.

But Macron stood by his comments on Thursday, insisting it was not a gaffe. “Every word I say on this issue is weighed, thought out and measured,” he said.

Galle, a member of Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union opposition group, has expressed support for Macron. “We must do everything we can to support Ukraine in winning this war,” he said. “Ukraine is clearly a victim of this aggression, so from a purely legal perspective we have the right to support them.”

Macron also won the support of Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabriel Landsbergis, who said NATO’s caution was a strategic gift to Putin. “We take every opportunity to declare what we will not do,” Landsbergs said. “We openly tie our hands and allow Putin to pillage, rape and destroy.”

Galle said Macron’s efforts contrasted with the hesitancy of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who has warned that overt Western support for Ukraine could further anger Putin.

He said Mr Macron had a clearer view of the Ukraine conflict than Mr Scholz, who said on Monday he was reluctant to launch German-made Taurus long-range cruise missiles into Ukraine, noting that his country had direct involvement risk of entering the conflict in Ukraine. war.

“The German Chancellor is completely on the wrong track. He has made up wrong arguments to explain why we cannot deliver Taurus, for example, they need to be installed on the spot by German soldiers. Why is he so hesitant? Is he just afraid of Putin?” said Mr Galle.

He acknowledged there was a “fine line” over whether NATO members training Ukrainian troops meant NATO was at war with Russia, but added it was a mistake to raise the issue at a time when Ukraine desperately needs everything the West can provide. . “I would rather focus the discussion now on the rapid delivery of all necessary weapons,” he said.