Czechs, Poles not considering troops for Ukraine

PRAGUE (Reuters) -Poland and the Czech Republic on Tuesday said they are not considering sending troops to Ukraine after that option for European nations was mentioned at a meeting in Paris, but they agreed to cooperate on buying more ammunition for Kyiv.

French President Emmanuel Macron raised the possibility on Monday of European countries sending soldiers to Ukraine, saying "nothing should be excluded".

Macron said, though, there was no consensus at this stage, while allies agreed to increase efforts to supply more munitions to Kyiv as its fight against Russia's invasion enters a third year.

The Kremlin warned on Tuesday that conflict between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance would be inevitable if European members of NATO sent troops to fight in Ukraine.

Asked about Macron's comments, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk said the option of troops was not being considered by their governments.

"I am convinced that we should develop the paths of support that we embarked on after Russia's aggression," Fiala told a news conference alongside Tusk as they met in Prague on Tuesday.

"I believe we do not need to open some other methods or ways," Fiala said.

Tusk added: "Poland does not plan to send its troops to the territory of Ukraine."

A White House official told Reuters on Monday the U.S. had no plans to send troops to fight in Ukraine and that there were also no plans for NATO to send troops to fight in Ukraine.

Tusk welcomed a Czech plan to buy up hundreds of thousands of ammunition rounds from countries outside Europe to supply Ukraine. Prague is seeking allies for financing.

Tusk and Fiala will meet their counterparts from Slovakia and Hungary on Tuesday, with Ukraine splitting the group.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has opposed military aid to Ukraine, before the Paris meeting had first highlighted that several NATO and EU members were considering sending soldiers to Ukraine on a bilateral basis, warning it would escalate the conflict.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Tuesday that Hungary was not willing to send weapons or troops to Ukraine and this stance was "rock solid".

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet in Prague, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Pawel Florkiewicz in Warsaw; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Christina Fincher, William Maclean)