“I will never go back compared to my statement that Russia and Ukraine they are one people“. Thus Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking on state television, confirms that the deterioration of diplomacy between Moscow and Europe has reached the point of no return. To clarify the level of tension there was already the dramatic phone call on Wednesday morning with Emmanuel Macron – the third since the beginning of the conflict – which for the Kremlin was a “frank exchange of views“, For the Elysée the confirmation that”the worst is yet to come“. “Our military provides safe corridors”, but “Ukrainian neo-Nazis prevent this and are treating civilians like human shields“, He attacks Putin:“ It is the Nazis who fight in this way, who use these brutal methods ”. He accuses Ukraine of trapping thousands of foreigners and encourages his own people: “The special operation is being conducted in accordance with our programs. We stay achieving the goals and having success. The Russian soldiers and officers who fight in Donbass are heroes, ”he says, as if forgetting that the invasion now affects the entire territory of the neighboring state. “The Russian forces managed to break through the lines of the nationalists”, he adds, “we attacked the enemy and destroyed his vehicles with ease”.
“The objectives will be achieved in any case” – In the morning phone call with Macron, the Russians reported that they had asked for the demilitarization of Ukraine and its neutral status, so that no threats to its security emerge from its territory. With Putin specifying that the objectives of the military operation – that is, the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of the neighboring country – will be completed in any case and “without compromise”, regardless of the outcome of the ongoing negotiations. Sources in Paris report instead that Putin’s goal is “take control of all of Ukraine“: The Russian president phoned the French president” to inform him about the situation and his intentions in the framework of the dialogue that Moscow and Paris continue to maintain “.
“Negotiation only with disarmament of Ukraine” – According to the reconstruction of the Elysée, the disagreement between the two heads of state emerged in all its evidence. Putin said that “operations in Ukraine are proceeding according to plan” and went back at length to his motives, namely “the refusal of Ukrainians to apply the Minsk agreements and the denazification of Ukraine “. According to him “it is great responsibility of Westerners“, Which behave“ as in the former Yugoslavia, with the bombing of Belgrade ”. The Russian president accused the Ukrainians of “war crimes in the villages“, Stating that“ they behave like Nazis ”. “I am open to negotiation but this has to be based on disarmament of Ukraine. If the Ukrainians don’t accept it with political and diplomatic methods, we will get it by military means. The campaign will undergo adaptations as the objectives are achieved. I would order a suspension of operations only if the Ukrainians accepted the conditions ”, the position of the head of the Kremlin reported by France.
Macron: “You tell stories to yourself” – Macron – always tells the Elysée – answered attacking Putin: “You tell stories to yourselfyou are looking for a pretext, what you say does not conform to reality and in any case would not justify violence. Thus your country ends isolated e weakened, with long-term sanctions “. The French president reiterated that “all responsibility” for the conflict falls on Putin, but that if the Russian president “decides to do otherwise, to take another path, it is still possible to talk, in particular taking into account the interests of Russia, its security ”. As for the operations on the ground, Putin denied the bombings in Kiev, stating in particular that those against the television tower were “targeted shots that did not hit civilians”. “If the situation worsens”, he said again, “the fault lies with the Ukrainians who do not accept the conditions. We need to negotiate nowand under the conditions imposed ”by Moscow, concluded according to Paris.
“Ensuring the evacuation of foreigners” – The Russian reconstruction, on the other hand, underlines Putin’s criticisms of Macron for various passages of his Wednesday speech to the nation, in which – he accused – he did not say “a word about sabotage of the Minsk agreements by the Ukrainian leadership for seven years, as well as the fact that Western countries and France itself have done absolutely nothing to force Kiev to respect them ”. The head of the Kremlin “invited the French president to join the efforts to ensure thesafe evacuation of foreign citizens from the territory of Ukraine “and denied having targeted civilian infrastructure:” The Russian armed forces are doing everything possible to save the lives of civilians “and” high-precision weapons are used to destroy military infrastructure only. The allegations about the alleged ongoing missile attacks and bombings of Kiev and other Ukrainian cities do not correspond to reality and are elements of a campaign of anti-Russian disinformation“, Reads the Moscow note.