Moscow’s accusations of Ukraine’s humanitarian law violations are ‘lies’, condemns Paris
When Vladimir Putin denounces “egregious violations” of humanitarian law by Ukrainian forces, it is “a lie,” the Elysee Palace reacted after a new discussion on Saturday between Russian President, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Before this call, Macron and Scholz met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who asked them to intervene so that Mr. Putin would immediately end the fighting. Mr. Zelensky also asked them to help him release the mayor of the Ukrainian city of Melitopol, who was kidnapped by the Russians the day before, according to Kyiv.
In the strategic port city of Mariupol, devastated by a nearly two-week siege, “the situation is very complex, unbearable from a human point of view” and “the only decision President Putin has to make is to lift the siege,” the Elysee Palace said in another statement. Emmanuel Macron told the Russian President that “the extortion of the Russian army must stop.”
At the end of this conversation, described as “very frank and difficult” at a “dramatic moment”, the French president is “determined to use all the resources of diplomacy, namely a very demanding dialogue” with Vladimir Putin, as well as sanctions. , “having a historical character” with the “expulsion” of Russia, according to the president.
“We are exerting maximum pressure and will not back down,” the French chairman added. Referring to the threat of Moscow’s possible use of chemical weapons in Ukraine, she stressed that Emmanuel Macron’s demand was “very strong for the conflict to end as soon as possible to avoid the worst, including the use of illegal weapons or the destruction of cities.”
Paris reiterated that new sanctions would be considered “without taboo,” as Emmanuel Macron said on Friday as he closed the European summit at Versailles, where the “twenty-seven” agreed to double funding for arms supplies to Ukraine.