Fact Check: Are French Foreign Legion Troops Already in Ukraine?

French President Emmanuel Macron's suggestion that NATO and European countries will have to consider committing troops to Ukraine under certain circumstances has added a new dimension to the French leader's approach toward the war-torn country.

"If the Russians were to break through the front lines, if there were a Ukrainian request—which is not the case today—we would legitimately have to ask ourselves this question," Macron told The Economist in an interview published on Thursday, referring to the possibility of sending ground troops.

Macron debuted the potential for NATO troops in Ukraine in late February, saying that although there was "no consensus" on combat personnel, "nothing should be excluded" when it came to supporting Ukraine.

One rumor that spread this week suggested that France had already moved ahead with these plans, deploying secret French Foreign Legion troops.

The Claim

A post on X, formerly Twitter, by user @nexta_tv posted on May 6, 2024, viewed 427,600 times, said: "France secretly sent its military to Ukraine - ex-Pentagon official, Stephen Bryen in an article for Asian Time

"He claims that units of the 3rd French Infantry Regiment, which is one of the main units of the Foreign Legion, have been sent to Slovyansk to support the 54th brigade of the AFU.

"This group has about 100 men who are engaged in artillery and observation. According to Bryen, a total of about 1,500 troops are expected to arrive."

The post included a screengrab for an article with the headline: "France sends combat troops to Ukraine battlefront." A subheading read: "Will the deployment of a Foreign Legion unit commanded by French officers trigger a wider European war?"

The Facts

There is no evidence that the French Foreign Legion is in Ukraine

As the post on X says, the claim is based on an article written by Stephen Bryen, a former staff director of the Near East Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

According to his Substack blog, Bryen based the claim on a post by Russian state-owned news service Sputnik that he said was based on another post by Russian Telegram channel Military Chronicle. The post by Sputnik has since been deleted and the Telegram channel is inaccessible without prior invitation.

In a Substack blog post about the claim, Bryen said how others thought "I was incorrect and my sources suspect...Some have called them 'fake' but in my judgement [sic] they are not at all fake."

However, neither that blog post nor the original article provides any credible sources that show the French Legion has deployed to Ukraine. It includes a link to a statement released by the Russian government on April 3, 2024, that France "could bring to combat readiness 1,500 troops for Ukraine" and other articles about the alleged presence of French mercenaries in Ukraine.

None of the information provided links to credible, independent sources that confirm the central claim that troops have been sent to Ukraine.

Further, the French government has denied that any of its soldiers are deployed in or near Ukraine.

In a post on X on May 6, 2024, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs posted a screengrab of Bryen's article with a cross through it, writing alongside "FAKE NEWS ALERT 🚨 Disinformation campaigns on France's support to Ukraine are as active as ever. Let's have a look 🔎 France has not sent troops to #Ukraine."

There is insufficient evidence to support these claims, which have been spread in part by Russian state-owned media.

Macron's recent comments about considering deployment in Ukraine has shaken other NATO leaders, with several quickly downplaying the potential for NATO troops on the frontlines.

Shortly after Macron's remarks, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: "There will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent there by European countries or NATO states."

Boots on the ground is not an option for Germany," added German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.

U.S. President Joe Biden said early on in the more than 2-year-old war that U.S. "forces are not and will not be engaged in a conflict with Russia in Ukraine." In March, the president said Kyiv was "not asking for American soldiers."

"In fact, there are no American soldiers at war in Ukraine, and I'm determined to keep it that way," he said during his State of the Union speech.

The Ruling

False.

There is no evidence for this claim. It has been denied by the French government and the sources it is based on provide no credible proof or references.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team