“RUSSIA OBSTRUCTING EFFORTS”
For Merz, who took office only this week, it will be his first visit to Ukraine as chancellor. Macron has not been to Kyiv since June 2022 when he went with the Italian and German leaders of the time.
In the talks with Zelenskyy they will make their “steadfast commitment to Ukraine”, the statement said.
“We, the leaders of France, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom will stand in Kyiv in solidarity with Ukraine against Russia’s barbaric and illegal full-scale invasion,” they said.
“We reiterate our backing for President Trump’s calls for a peace deal and call on Russia to stop obstructing efforts to secure an enduring peace,” they added.
After meeting Zelenskyy in the morning, they are to host a virtual meeting to update other European leaders on moves to create a European force that could provide Ukraine with security after the war.
Such a force “would help regenerate Ukraine’s armed forces after any peace deal and strengthen confidence in any future peace”, the statement said.
“NUMBER OF SYMBOLS”
After meeting Tusk in France on Friday, Macron called for the speedy drawing up of a US-Europe plan for the 30-day truce that would be backed by “massive economic sanctions” if one side “betrays it”.
Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said at a meeting in Norway on Friday to discuss Ukraine that the “United States has two sanctions packages on the table” and that countries were discussing action in the “banking and the energy sector”.
Macron said Putin’s “belligerent comments” at the Red Square parade showed he remained “on the side of war”. But he also said talks about territory could be held once a ceasefire starts.
Russia has occupied about a fifth of Ukrainian territory and has yet to respond to the pressure for an enduring ceasefire. Trump has also said Ukraine will have to consider giving up territory but has expressed growing impatience with Russia’s refusal to halt the fighting.
The timing of the visit is striking, coming a day after Putin hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping but also Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, whose country is an EU member, at the Moscow parade.
A French presidential official, who asked not to be named, said the visit just four days after Merz took office “demonstrates Europe’s unity, strength, and responsiveness. And it mirrors Putin’s celebrations”.
Source: CNA
