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Tag: Ukraine War

  • French President, Macron States Position On Russia-Ukraine War

    French President, Macron States Position On Russia-Ukraine War

      French President Emmanuel Macron has said he does not want to see Russia crushed by a defeat in Ukraine.

      Speaking to French media, Mr Macron urged Western nations to increase military support for Kyiv and said he was prepared for a protracted war.

      “I want Russia to be defeated in Ukraine, and I want Ukraine to be able to defend its position,” he said.

      But he hit out against those who he said wanted to extend the war to Russia itself in a bid to “crush” the nation.

      The comments came as world leaders gathered at the Munich Security Conference, which saw promises to speed up the supply of weapons to Kyiv and impose tougher sanctions on Moscow.

      “I do not think, as some people do, that we must aim for a total defeat of Russia, attacking Russia on its own soil,” Mr Macron told the paper Le Journal du Dimanche.

      “Those observers want to, above all else, crush Russia. That has never been the position of France and it will never be our position.”

      Addressing the conference in Munich on Friday, Mr Macron insisted that now was not the time for dialogue with Moscow.

      But he did not shy away from mentioning peace talks as a final goal.

      The president suggested that Ukrainian military efforts, supported by allies, were the only way to “bring Russia back to the table and build a lasting peace”.

      He also dismissed the prospect of regime change in Russia, describing similar efforts around the world as a “total failure”.

      Despite Mr Macron’s comments, negotiations are a faraway prospect for Ukraine’s leaders.

      On Friday, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba welcomed the decision to not invite Moscow to the Munich conference.

      Russian leaders should not be invited to the table as long as the “terrorist state kills, as long as it uses bombs, missiles and tanks as an argument for international politics”, he said.

      President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out immediate talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, insisting there was “no trust” between the parties. In an interview with the BBC earlier this week, he also dismissed the idea of giving up territory to strike a peace deal with Moscow.

      Mr Macron has previously been criticised by some Nato allies for sending what they believe are mixed messages on Ukraine.

      Last June, he was condemned by Mr Kuleba for saying it was vital that Russia was not “humiliated over its invasion”.

      Mr Kuleba at the time responded that Russia – which was “humiliating itself” – needed to be put in its place.

    • Russia Rocket Strike Kills 25, Injures Dozens In Ukraine

      A Russian rocket strike on a railway station killed 25 people, Ukraine says, on the day marking six months since Moscow’s invasion began.

      Five of the victims of the attack in the eastern town of Chaplyne burnt to death in a vehicle, officials said. Two boys aged six and 11 were also killed.

      President Volodymyr Zelensky reported the strike during a UN Security Council meeting. A further 31 people were hurt.

      Russia said it hit a military train killing hundreds of Ukrainian troops.

      “As a result of a direct hit by an Iskander missile on a military train at the Chaplyne railway station in the Dnipropetrovsk region, more than 200 servicemen of the reserve of Ukraine’s Armed Forces and 10 units of military equipment were destroyed, on their way to combat zones in the Donbas,” its defence ministry said in a statement.

      Ukraine has made no mention of military deaths in the strike.

      Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilian infrastructure. Speaking on Thursday, UN human rights commissioner Michelle Bachelet called on Russia’s president to halt armed attacks on Ukraine.

      Mr Zelensky said he had learned of the strike on Chaplyne, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, as he was preparing to speak to the Security Council, adding: “This is how Russia prepared for the UN Security Council meeting.”

      In April, a strike on another train station killed more than 50 people.

      Ukraine spent Wednesday marking its annual independence day. Mr Zelensky had previously said Russia might do something “cruel” to disrupt the celebrations.

      Guard at nuclear power plant
      President Zelensky said Russia had endangered the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, and the people of Europe

      Earlier, he accused Moscow’s forces of turning the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant into a “war zone” that endangered the plant and the people of Europe, putting the world “on the brink of radiation catastrophe”.

      On Thursday the city of Enerhodar, where the plant is located, was “on the verge of a humanitarian disaster” after being left without electricity and water “as a result of enemy shelling”, its exiled Mayor Dmytro Orlov said on Telegram.

      It is not clear whether these outages have affected the nuclear plant.

      Russian media reported quoting Russian-installed authorities that the occupied cities of Melitopol and Kherson, and other population centres in the Kherson region, were without power.

      Around the world, there were gatherings of supporters in the streets on Wednesday to mark Ukraine’s independence. World leaders also rallied to support the embattled nation.

      UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared in Kyiv on an unannounced trip to show his country’s support, announcing £54m ($63.5m) in new military aid – a figure dwarfed by an announcement from US President Joe Biden of an extra $3bn (£2.5bn).

      But in the streets of Kyiv, it was relatively quiet.

      Ukraine had banned large gatherings and events over fears that Russia could target such civilian gatherings. It followed a warning from the US for any of its citizens to leave ahead of the anniversary.

      Some gathered anyway on Khreshchatyk Street to look at the array of captured Russian tanks and armoured vehicles put on display instead of the usual Ukrainian parade.

      Between his political speeches, President Zelensky and his wife also attended a memorial ceremony for the fallen soldiers and civilians of the war, laying yellow and blue flowers at Kyiv’s Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders.

    • Russia-Ukraine War: French President Slams ‘Hyprocrisy’ African Leaders

      French President Emmanuel Macron has strongly criticised African leaders’ response to the Ukraine war during a press conference in Yaoundé.

      Mr Macron hit out at “the hypocrisy, particularly on the African continent” that denied the Ukraine conflict was a war.

      Some African countries have held back from outright criticising Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. On March, 17 African countries abstained in a UN vote to condemn the invasion.

      He also said that the only solution to Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis is decentralisation: “It is through this political process of dialogue and reform that a lasting solution can be found,” the privately-owned Journal du Cameroun website quoted Mr Macron as saying.

      He was speaking alongside Cameroonian President Paul Biya in Yaoundé.

      According to Journal du Cameroun, the two leaders also discussed “jihadist threats in northern Cameroon with Boko Haram”, and the conflict between the Cameroonian forces and armed separatist groups.

      The French president began a three-country tour of Africa on 25 July, with food security, militant violence and France’s relation with the continent expected to dominate his talks with African leaders.