Baltic Officials Said They Could Send Troops To Ukraine Without Waiting For Nato If Russia Scores A Breakthrough: Report

Lithuanian soldiers march during a military parade on Armed Forces Day 2023 in Vilnius.Yauhen Yerchak/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesMPs for the Baltic States have been warning German officials that they might send troops to Ukraine.Their condition would be if Russia achieves a breakthrough in Ukraine, Der Spiegel reported.They issued the warning as part of an argument for Germany to support Ukraine more aggressively, per the outlet.Members of parliament for the Baltic States warned German officials last week that their governments are poised to send troops to Ukraine if Russia achieves considerable gains, Der Spiegel reported.The German outlet reported on Sunday that the Baltic officials issued the warning while speaking with representatives for Berlin at the Lennart Meri Conference in Tallinn.Der Spiegel neither named any of the officials nor identified which countries they represented, but reported that they raised concerns about Chancellor Olaf Scholz's current policy toward the war.Scholz has been denying Ukraine permission to use German-supplied weapons in strikes on Russian soil, in line with Washington's stance of not allowing Kyiv to use donated weaponry for attacks beyond Ukraine's own borders.According to Der Spiegel, the Baltic officials were concerned that such policies created a half-hearted attempt to help Kyiv and might allow Russia to gain the upper hand in Ukraine.They said that if Moscow does gain significant ground in eastern Ukraine, their governments and Poland could move troops into the conflict zone even before Russia deploys its soldiers on their borders.The argument from the officials, according to Der Spiegel, was that treating Moscow with restraint could backfire and instead create an escalation.Soldiers take part in the combat shooting exercises of the Lithuanian army and the French-German brigade at the General Silvestras Zukauskas Training Area in Pabrade, Lithuania, on May 6, 2024.PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP via Getty ImagesLike Ukraine, the Baltic States — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — were previously part of the Soviet Union.They've been some of NATO's most vocal members in pushing the rest of the alliance to intensify support for Kyiv, fearing that Russian leader Vladimir Putin may seek to continue his conquest in the region if he seizes Ukraine.Together with France's President Emmanuel Macron, they've repeatedly hinted that they aren't ruling out sending NATO troops to Ukraine.Officials in Estonia, in particular, recently signaled the possibility of deploying its troops to fill non-combat roles and free up Ukrainians to fight on the front lines.