Poland should not rule out sending troops to Ukraine, its foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, has said as Kyiv struggles to repel Russian advances. But, in comments reported by Reuters, Sikorski did not specify what role such troops would play.

While Ukraine’s Nato allies have vowed to supply the war-torn nation with money and weapons for as long as it takes to repel a Russian invasion, they have generally ruled out the possibility of sending soldiers to the country.

Asked in an interview whether Poland was ready to send troops to Ukraine, Sikorski said: “We shouldn’t rule it out. We should leave [Russian president Vladimir] Putin guessing as to our intentions”.Reuters reported the interview, which was published in Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza, Italy’s La Repubblica and Spain’s El Pais.

French president Emmanuel Macron opened the door to sending troops to Ukraine at a conference in Paris on 26 February, suggesting that one area western troops could help with would be to train Ukrainians in Ukraine.

Sikorski himself has previously said that the presence of Nato troops in Ukraine is “not unthinkable”. On Monday, Ukraine’s top commander said he had signed paperwork allowing French military instructors to visit Ukrainian training centres soon.

Russia has been gaining ground in Ukraine since the failure of Kyiv’s 2023 counter-offensive to make any serious inroads against well dug-in Russian troops, with Kyiv’s forces hampered by delays in supplies of weapons and ammunition.

In other news:

• Poland announced on Monday it would restrict Russian diplomats’ movements on its soil, prompting Moscow to pledge retaliatory measures. The announcement came after Poland detained several people suspected of planning sabotage attacks on behalf of Russian security services. The new measures will restrict the movement of consular staff to the Warsaw region, but will not affect the Russian ambassador, Sergei Andreyev.

• Belgium will commit to equip Ukraine with 30 F-16 fighter jets with first deliveries planned for this year, news agency Belga reported on Tuesday, citing the country’s foreign minister, Hadja Lahbib. The announcement comes hours before the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenksiy, is due to meet with government in Brussels.

• Spain will provide Ukraine with €1bn in military aid this year after the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and Zelenskiy met in Madrid to sign an “enormously important”, decade-long defence and security deal. Although the precise details of the agreement have not been made public, the Spanish government said its assistance would “allow Ukraine to prioritise its capacities, including its air defences”.

• The Russian-held city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine came under attack twice within three hours early on Tuesday, officials said, the latest in a series of strikes near the city. Fires appeared to have broken out in both strikes. Ukraine made no official comment on either incident but Ukrainian news outlets said the target of the second strike was an airfield and posted a video of a fire spreading over a wide area.