Volodymyr Zelensky tries everything to influence the lexical field of France about the war waged by Russia. The Ukrainian President has therefore invited Emmanuel Macron to travel to Ukraine to see for himself how Russian forces are committing genocide, a term his French counterpart has so far refused to use.
“I spoke to him about Emmanuel,” President Zelenskyy said in an interview with CNN on Friday and broadcast on Sunday. “I think he wants to make sure Russia enters into a dialogue,” he added to explain the French leader’s refusal to denounce a “genocide” in Ukraine, unlike US President Joe Biden. The Ukrainian President initially found this refusal on Wednesday to be very hurtful.
“He will come and he will see and I am sure he will understand”
“I told him I wanted him to understand that this is not a war, that it is nothing but genocide. I invited him to come when he has the opportunity,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CNN. “He will come and he will see, and I am sure he will understand.”
Emmanuel Macron, in the middle of his re-election campaign on Thursday, stated that he believed the word “genocide” should be qualified “by lawyers, not politicians” and that “entering into verbal escalation” “would not help Ukraine”.
Also invited Biden
In his interview aired on Sunday, the Ukrainian President also said he wanted Joe Biden to come to Ukraine, who surprised him when he said a week ago that Russian forces were committing “genocide”. “I think he will come,” “but the decision is his, of course it depends on the security situation,” he said. “But I think he’s the leader of the United States and for that he should come and see it.”
“We would be happy to see him in our country and it would be an important message of support for us,” added the head of Ukraine’s diplomacy Dmytro Kouleba in an interview with another American channel, CBS, which also broadcasts aired on Sunday. In his opinion, “a face-to-face meeting between the two presidents,” Biden and Zelenskyy, “could also pave the way for new transfers of American arms to Ukraine and talks about a possible political solution to this conflict.” The US government is considering sending an envoy to Kyiv, but the White House has so far ruled out a risky trip by the president himself.