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| President Emmanuel Macron Says Ukraine Must Win War Against Russia |
International Military - French President Emmanuel Macron stated that Ukraine must be able to win the war against Russia . He said that after traveling to the country for the first time since the conflict broke out in late February.
Along with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Macron arrived in Kiev for a high-level visit accompanied by the sound of air raid sirens in the Ukrainian capital, the Associated Press reported.
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They then toured Irpin, a suburb of Kiev which had been devastated by Russian attacks in the early stages of the war, before meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Macron posted a short video on Twitter showing some of the city's buildings destroyed or badly damaged.
We saw a ruined city and traces of barbarism. And also the heroism of the Ukrainian men and women who stopped the Russian soldiers from going to Kyiv. Ukraine fights. They must be able to win, reads the text in the caption of the video as quoted from Newsweek, Friday (17/6/2022).
Macron's insistence that a Ukrainian victory was necessary comes after the French leader has faced backlash in recent weeks for his rhetoric about the war and Russia.
There have been mixed reactions to a speech he delivered last Wednesday urging negotiations between Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, and several US lawmakers also sharply criticized Macron earlier this month for saying in an interview that Russia should not be humiliated at the end of the war. "Calls to avoid insulting Russia can only embarrass France and every other country that will call for it," Kuleba tweeted.
Because it is Russia that is humiliating itself. We all better focus on how to put Russia in its place. It will bring peace and save lives, he continued.
Although Macron has supported Ukraine throughout the conflict and condemned the Russian invasion, calling it a "historic and fundamental mistake" at one point, the French president has also called for a diplomatic resolution to the war and maintaining dialogue with Putin.
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But in his first visit to Ukraine since the war began, which he described as a "message of European unity towards Ukraine," according to Politico, Macron and his German and Italian counterparts appeared to be surprised by the extent of the devastation inflicted.
Similar to Macron's message denouncing the "outrage" at Irpin, Scholz said while touring the damaged suburbs that the destruction of the city said a lot about the brutality of Russia's war of aggression, which is only for destruction and conquest, according to the AP. European assistance in rebuilding "everything" that was destroyed.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who also visited Ukraine but arrived separately from other European leaders, said he was struggling to find words to describe the unimaginable humanitarian tragedy and horrific devastation they saw in Irpin. "I strongly renew my call for all Russian perpetrators to be held accountable by international criminal justice, which Romania fully supports," he added.
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