French Special Forces Hold ‘Perseus’ Exercises Simulating Combat in Ukraine on Belarusian Front

<p >French forces were reported on January 15 to have deployed for a secret exercise called Perseus, during which more than 3,000 personnel trained in an area resembling a stretch of the Dnieper River north of the Ukrainian capital Kiev. French special forces units played a central role in these exercises. The drills simulated efforts to repel a Russian offensive across the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, the possibility of which has long been a major concern for the Ukrainian government and its Western supporters. Russia has significantly expanded its military presence in Belarus since the escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian War to full scale hostitlies in February 2022. The French government has repeatedly considered significantly escalating its ground force deployments in Ukraine, with the French paper Le Monde reporting in mid-November that the country had “reactivated” discussions with the United Kingdom on on troop deployments to Ukraine. </p><p >French President Emmanuel Macron previously <a href=" >stated</a> that his government “will do everything necessary to prevent Russia from winning this war,” stressing that deployments of ground forces were not ruled out. He highlighted at the time that much as other European states had ruled out provision of assets such as cruise missiles and fighter planes to Ukraine, only to later alter their positions, so too did he believe it was highly possible that they would come to reconsider overtly deploying ground forces in the country. These developments followed <a href=" >serious Ukrainian setbacks </a>and <a href=" >continued loss</a> of territory as the country’s fighting capabilities rapidly diminished in 2023 and 2024.</p>