Ukraine’s allies will never force it into negotiating with Russia, Macron says
Emmanuel Macron in the White House on December 1, 2022 (Photo:REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)
Kyiv’s international allies and partners will never pressure it to negotiate a compromise with Moscow, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Dec. 1, during a joint press conference with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House.
“We will never urge the Ukrainians to make a compromise that will never be acceptable to them,” The Guardian quoted Macron.
“They are so brave, and they defend precisely their lives and nations and our principles. It will never build a sustainable peace if we want a sustainable peace. We have to respect the Ukrainians to decide the moment and the conditions which they will negotiate their territory and their future.”
He added that France will continue to increase military and economic assistance to Ukraine until proper peace could begin. Macron also thanked the United States for its outsized contribution to the international effort to aid Kyiv.
“If we consider that we can abandon a country, and abandon the full respect of these principles, it means there is no possible stability in this world,” the president said.
“That’s why I do believe that the US strongly supporting Ukraine in that time is very important, not just for the Ukrainians but also for the Europeans, but for the stability of our world today.”
NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg earlier said that Ukraine’s negotiating position would entirely depend on how successful Kyiv is at the battlefield.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv could find a format for peace talks with Moscow, once Russian troops withdraw from occupied Ukrainian territory.
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