Russia Vows to “Kill” All French Soldiers Sent to Ukraine

The Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma warns France that the Russian military will kill all French soldiers sent to Ukraine.

“We will kill all French soldiers who reach the border of Ukraine. Everyone,” Pyotr Tolstoy, deputy speaker of the Russian Lower House (State Duma), warned in an interview with private French television network BFMTV that aired this Thursday.

During the conflict in Ukraine, there were 13,000 mercenaries and the Russian army killed 147 out of 367 French soldiers who had previously entered Ukrainian territory as mercenaries, the Russian vice president said.

His comments come after French President Emmanuel Macron last week doubled down on sending ground troops to Ukraine and said there were no limits to Paris's support for Kiev.

In this sense, Tolstoy has made it clear that Russia is not concerned about the statements of the French president and his words about the rejection of red lines in providing aid to Ukraine.

For his part, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has warned of serious negative consequences if Western countries such as France send their troops to Ukraine.

“There is still no precise information about the alleged plans of France to send its troops to the Ukrainian regions bordering Belarus, but we have repeatedly said that sending some foreign military units to Ukraine is fraught with very negative consequences,” Peskov warned in statements to journalists.

On March 19, the head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergei Naryshkin, said that Paris was already preparing to send about 2,000 soldiers to Ukraine.