EXCLUSIVE MAINTENANCE – For Étienne de Poncins, France stands “at the side of a courageous, often heroic people”. After his evacuation to Lviv, he is happy to find his embassy.
Étienne de Poncins has been French Ambassador to Ukraine since September 2019. Faced with the advance of Russian troops, the embassy closed its doors in Kyiv on February 28 to open them in Lviv in the west of the country. They reopened on April 15th.
LE FIGARO.- On April 15, the French Embassy in Ukraine returned to Kyiv after a two-month departure from Lviv in the west of the country. What is this reopening a sign of?
Etienne de PONCINS.- First, a strong political signal, responding to a request from President Zelenskyy for the return of embassies to Kyiv. But also a sign that the security situation in Kyiv has become acceptable since Russian troops left the entire region to retreat across the borders. It is therefore a recognition of the Ukrainians’ military success, because Kyiv is no longer surrounded. Finally, the search for new efficiencies thanks to more direct access to Ukrainian leaders, which will allow military aid to be better provided…
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