France to send 500 troops to Romania

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This Maxar satellite image taken on February 25, 2022 shows trucks and cars waiting in a traffic jam leaving Ukraine, near Siret, Romania. – The UN said that more than 50,000 Ukrainians had fled the country in the past two days, calling for “safe unimpeded access” for aid operations. Streams of people in cars and on foot were seen crossing into Hungary, Poland and Romania while hundreds camped out in a train station in the Polish border city of Przemysl. (Photo by Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies / AFP)

 

France is to deploy 500 military personnel as part of NATO forces to Romania after Russia invaded neighbouring Ukraine, the army chief of staff said Friday.

“NATO has decided to reinforce its presence to send a very clear sign of strategic solidarity, to position forces in Romania,” Thierry Burkhard told Radio France Internationale and broadcaster France24.

“We will send around 500 men with armoured vehicles.”

He said France would also maintain a military presence in Estonia, which borders Russia, beyond March.

In view of “the war in Ukraine, it has been decided we will maintain our presence” of 200 to 250 men with armoured vehicles in the Baltic nation, he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron in recent weeks had thrown his energy into diplomacy in an attempt to avert a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But Russia’s military vehicles rolled over the border early Thursday, with Ukrainian forces fighting a Russian push towards the capital Kyiv.

The conflict has already claimed at least dozens of lives and displaced tens of thousands of people.

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© Agence France-Presse