Ukraine’s foreign minister is furious after Macron said Russia should not be humiliated
“We must not humiliate Russia so that on the day the fighting stops we can build an exit ramp by diplomatic means,” the French president told reporters.
French President Emmanuel Macron provoked a waterfall of outrage on social media after saying that “it is vital that Russia is not humiliated so that when the fighting stops in Ukraine a diplomatic solution can be found”, adding that he believes Paris will play a mediating role in ending the conflict. While Macron has sought to have a dialogue with Vladimir Putin since the Moscow invasion of Ukraine in February, his position has been repeatedly criticized by some anti-Russian countries in Eastern Europe who see it as hurting efforts to pressure Putin to come to the negotiating table.
“We must not humiliate Russia so that on the day the fighting stops we can build an exit ramp by diplomatic means,” Macron said in a newspaper interview published on Saturday.
“I am convinced that France’s role is to be a mediating power.”
As expected, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kolba, who spends most of his time on Twitter, attacked Macron, saying on Saturday that “calls to avoid humiliating Russia can only humiliate France and any other country that calls for it. Because Russia is humiliating itself. “We should all focus on how to put Russia in its place. It will bring peace and save lives.”
All this comes at a time when the Western media has dropped a large part of the propaganda front in the last three months and admits that the Ukraine war was in fact a disaster for, well, Ukraine.
The NYT wrote that “the geographical reality of the Ukraine War: Russia has conquered much of the East.”
And the Washington Post acknowledged that “Ukrainian volunteer fighters in the East feel abandoned.”
Meanwhile, while all some do is tweet, Macron has actually talked to Putin repeatedly since the invasion as part of efforts to achieve a ceasefire and start credible negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow.
“I think, and I told him, that he is making a historical and fundamental mistake for his people, for himself and for history,” Macron said.
France has supported Ukraine militarily and economically, but until now Macron has not been in Kiev to offer symbolic political support like other EU leaders, something Ukraine wanted him to do.
Macron said he did not rule out going.
Paris is sending offensive weapons and Macron said he had asked arms manufacturers to speed up production.
Did the article interest you?