PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that Ukraine must adopt a “realistic” position on territorial issues as part of efforts to convince Russia to come to the negotiating table.
“The Ukrainians have to lead realistic discussions on territorial issues and only they can lead them,” declared Emmanuel Macron during the annual conference of French ambassadors.
Referring to US President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to quickly end the war in Ukraine, the French head of state declared: “There will be no quick and easy solution in Ukraine.”
The role of the United States in the peace process is to “help us change the nature of the situation and convince Russia to come to the negotiating table” and that of Europe to “build security guarantees”, he said. added Emmanuel Macron.
Ukraine’s allies must ensure that it has sufficient support to enter into a strong position in the negotiations, he said, without elaborating.
“We cannot, as Europeans, let Russia win in Ukraine, we cannot do it for the international order, we cannot do it for our own security,” he declared.
Moscow, which annexed Crimea in 2014, launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and currently controls about a fifth of the country, including most of the eastern Donbass region.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky, who previously conditioned any negotiations with Russia on the return of occupied territories, recently acknowledged that a diplomatic outcome would save lives, muting his previous demands for a withdrawal of Moscow’s forces from all areas. Ukrainian territories.
(Written by Kate Entringer)
Belgium
