According to the German parliament's lower house (Bundestag) Research Services, the deployment of ground troops by a NATO country in Ukraine would not automatically make all other NATO countries parties to the conflict.
This is according to an as yet unpublished state of affairs report of the parliamentary expert panel, which states that in this scenario the state in question would itself become a party to the conflict.
"If the NATO member state acts unilaterally - i.e. not within the framework of a previously decided NATO operation and outside NATO military command structures - neither NATO as a whole nor the other NATO partner states become parties to the conflict," the paper, which was made available to dpa, continues.
At the end of February, French President Emmanuel Macron did not rule out the deployment of ground troops in Ukraine in the future. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, on the other hand, clearly rejected the deployment of Western soldiers to Ukraine.
According to her office, AfD Bundestag member Beatrix von Storch then asked what impact a deployment of ground troops by a NATO state would have with regard to the so-called Alliance case, in which NATO members are obliged to stand up for each other.
The Bundestag experts wrote "If troops of a NATO member state engage in collective self-defence (Article 51, UN Charter) in favour of Ukraine in an existing conflict (between Russia and Ukraine) and are attacked by the other party to the conflict (Russia) in the course of the battle in the conflict area, this does not constitute a case of Art. 5 NATO Treaty."
They pointed out that, Article 5 of the NATO Treaty is linked to NATO countries and troops being attacked on or over their territory.