ROME - Italian Foreign Secretary Antonio Tajani has confidently denied the possibility of Italy sending its own troops into Ukraine after the question of British and French intervention resurfaced this week. 

 According to sources at Le Monde, a recent meeting between Prime Ministers Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron highlighted the countries' determination to not let Russia succeed in its advances into Ukraine. In the past, the French Prime Minister has not shied away from the possibility of French involvement on Ukrainian soil, adamantly declaring that 'Russia must not win'. 

 A source told the French paper that the two countries are discussing the creation of a core group of allied forces that would operate in Ukraine and help ensure European security more generally. 

 Whilst maintaining that the possibility of sending British and French troops into Ukraine is a very small one, neither country wants to put limits on their support for Ukraine's cause. '[We will] not exclude any options', the French Foreign Minister told the BBC on Saturday. 'Each time the Russian army progresses by one square kilometre, the threat gets one square kilometre closer to Europe'. 

 In response to these considerations, which have received mixed reactions within the EU and Nato, the Italian Foreign Secretary Tajani emphasised that this will never be a possibility for his country.

 'We support Kiev politically, financially and militarily by sending aid, but we will not send soldiers to fight in Ukraine. We must avoid escalation'. 

 Germany have taken a similar stance, even if in recent days sources from NATO have reported that the situation in Europe needs 'many more soldiers'.