NATO leaders today began to walk back a claim by French President Emmanuel Macron that sending Western troops into Ukraine is not “ruled out.”

Germany and Poland both said today that they would not be sending troops to Ukraine, after reports that some Western countries may be considering doing so as the war with Russia enters its third year.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz appeared to have a different view of what happened in Paris. He said that the participants had agreed “that there will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil who are sent there by European states or Nato states.”

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg also said that the US-led military alliance has “no plans” to send troops to Ukraine.

The backpedalling by the Nato allies came a day after French President Emmanuel Macron said that sending Western ground troops into Ukraine should not be “ruled out.”

But at a meeting in Prague today, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said: “Poland does not plan to send its troops to Ukraine.”

Prime Minister Petr Fiala insisted that “the Czech Republic certainly doesn’t want to send its soldiers” into Ukraine.

And Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico has said that his government is not planning to send troops but that some countries were weighing whether to strike bilateral deals to do so.

Russia was quick to warn today that any Western troop deployment would inevitably lead to direct conflict between it and Nato.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “In this case, we need to talk not about probability, but about the inevitability” of direct war.

Campaigners also slammed Mr Macron’s comments.

CND general secretary Kate Hudson said: “Sending Nato troops to Ukraine would be the ultimate and most dangerous folly. 

“Doesn’t Mr Macron realise this is a direct line to World War III? 

“Ceasefire and negotiations for a peace settlement are the only way forward that will secure the future of humanity.”

French Communist Party national secretary Fabien Rousell also slammed Mr Macron.

Mr Rousell said that the French president was “leading France and Europe into a terribly dangerous war escalation.

“France must act for peace, certainly not blow on the embers of war.”

On Monday, several European countries, including France, reportedly expressed support for buying ammunition shells for Ukraine outside the European Union and to deliver medium and long-range missiles to the Ukrainians.