Since Wednesday there have been disagreements between Kyiv and Paris. But it must be said that the term in question is particularly weighty. Emmanuel Macron’s refusal to denounce a “genocide” in Ukraine by the Russian army was “very hurtful”, lamented his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Indeed, the French President earlier today chose not to use the term “genocide,” which his American counterpart Joe Biden used to accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of doing in Ukraine.
The “disappointing” French position for Kyiv
“I would say that Russia started a brutal war unilaterally, that it is now clear that war crimes were committed by the Russian army and that we must now find those responsible,” said Emanuel Macron. “It’s crazy what’s happening, it’s incredibly brutal (…), but at the same time I look at the facts and I want to try as much as possible to be able to continue to stop this war and restore peace, so I’m not me sure if the escalation of words serves the cause, he continued.
The spokesman for Ukrainian diplomacy, Oleg Nikolenko, reacted quickly and considered this position “disappointing”. “If they are true, such statements are very hurtful for us,” said Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a joint press conference with the Polish, Lithuanian, Estonian and Latvian heads of state on a visit to Kyiv. “I will do my best to raise this issue with Mr. Macron today. If not, then tomorrow if he finds the time,” he added.
On Tuesday, Joe Biden first accused Vladimir Putin of committing genocide in Ukraine, a word previously used by the Ukrainian president but never used by the American government. On Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke for the first time of a “genocide”. Russia, for its part, defends itself by denouncing a staging and fake staged by the Ukrainians to harm it.