Vladimir Putin this Sunday confirmed to Emmanuel Macron that he would “achieve his goals” in Ukraine “either through negotiations or through war,” but denied targeting civilians and assured that he would not attack nuclear power plants, the French president said.
During a telephone interview at 1:45 a.m., the French president reaffirmed his “serious concern” about the safety of nuclear facilities following the March 4 bombing of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporozhye, Europe’s largest, by the Russian army. He insisted on “the need to take concrete action in response to this,” according to a press release from Elysée.
Responsibility lies “on the Ukrainians”, according to Putin
Vladimir Putin, for his part, assured that he “did not mean to carry out attacks on nuclear power plants” and said that he was “ready to comply with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) standards for the protection of power plants.” This was announced to journalists by the President of France. The Russian president gave his consent to “starting a dialogue between the IAEA, Ukraine and Russia so that the power plants are safe,” Paris said. On Monday, during a meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, its director must make proposals to ensure the safety of Ukrainian power plants.
Vladimir Putin also again “denied that his army was targeting civilians” and the French President asked him not to endanger them in accordance with international law. And he confirmed that “the responsibility for releasing the population of the encircled cities lies with the Ukrainians.” “The attacking army is the Russian army,” Emmanuel Macron replied, again asking his Russian counterpart to stop hostilities. He also stated that he “has no reason to believe that Ukrainian troops are endangering civilians.”
“Forcing Vladimir Putin to change his mind”
Emmanuel Macron found that the Russian president is “very determined to achieve his goals”, including “what he calls +denazification + and neutralization of Ukraine”, as well as the recognition of the independence of Crimea and Donbass. Demands that, according to Paris, “are unacceptable for Ukrainians.” “It is possible that we will soon adopt new sanctions,” Yeliseisky said, without specifying whether they could go so far as to restrict imports of Russian gas and oil, on which several European countries depend.
In any case, the EU plans to use its strategic reserves “to prevent an even more impressive price hike,” said Paris. But “today we are not afraid for our deliveries,” says Eliseysky. “The goal remains not to wage war with Russia, but to change the calculations of Vladimir Putin,” Emmanuel Macron’s advisers repeated.
Stop fighting ASAP
On the ground, “the longer the conflict lasts, the greater the risk of violent forms of warfare,” they worry. “The chemical risk is not proven,” the adviser said to this question, “but we saw how Russia could behave in Chechnya or in Syria or through militias in the Central African Republic or in Mali.” “This does not predetermine what Russia will do in Ukraine, but it requires finding a way to stop the fighting as quickly as possible.”
The advisers specified that they had seen images of civilians being fired upon, “which may fall under the category of war crimes,” referring to the International Criminal Court, which launched an investigation into the situation in Ukraine. “We know that Kharkiv is under heavy siege and shelling, like Mariupol, and that Kyiv is on the verge of encirclement,” added Eliseisky.