French President Emmanuel Macron has warned against
humiliating Russia for its military offensive in Ukraine, if and when any peace
deal is agreed upon.
Speaking to reporters in the French city of Strasbourg,
Macron said, once the war ends, Moscow and Kyiv will eventually have to sit
down and negotiate peace terms. Therefore, any further tensions will only serve
to the detriment of the situation.
"We will have a peace to build tomorrow, let us never
forget that," Macron said, "I mentioned this earlier. We will have to
do this with Ukraine and Russia around the table. The end of the discussion and
the negotiation will be set by Ukraine and Russia."
However, Macron says this will not be done in denial, or in
exclusion of each other, nor even in humiliation.
In what may come as a blow to the government in Kyiv, Macron
also said it would take decades for Ukraine to join the European Union.
"I am saying this in all honesty; honesty that we owe
to the Ukrainians," Macron said, "we can have an accelerated
process... to accept candidate status for Ukraine but we know that given our
standards and the criteria, it would probably take decades for Ukraine to
really join the European Union."
Ukraine had been seeking a quick route to EU membership and
Macron’s remarks will come as another setback for Kyiv, which has also been
refused membership in NATO.
The French leader laid out his vision of a broader club of
European nations that would allow for deeper cooperation between non-EU
countries.
Under this new wider political community, nations like
Ukraine and even the United Kingdom could be included, Macron explained.
The French President whose country currently holds the EU’s
presidency said a new organization would try and achieve objectives beyond the
scope of the EU.
"The European Union, given the level of its integration
and ambition, cannot be in the short term the only means of structuring the
European continent," he pointed out.
The initiative was immediately supported by German
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was standing alongside the French President.
Vladimir Medinsky, the Russian chief negotiator said that
peace talks with Ukraine had not stopped and were being held remotely.
Moscow has accused Kyiv of stalling the talks and using
reports of atrocities committed by Russian troops in Ukraine to undermine the
negotiations. Russia denies targeting civilians in what it calls its special
military operation.
Asked when-in-person talks might be held with Ukrainian
negotiators, Medinsky said, "We need more specifics on hand in order to
meet in person."
Since March 29, Ukraine and Russia have not held
face-to-face peace talks, but have been meeting via video conferences.
Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned
that there was a risk the peace process could collapse.
Russian
President Vladimir Putin calls Moscow's actions a special military operation in
the face of NATO's eastward expansion on Russian borders. Putin has also
previously claimed the special military operation is designed to disarm
Ukraine, defend Russian speakers from persecution and prevent the United States
and its allies from using the country to threaten Russian security.
Ukraine dismissed Moscow’s claims of persecution and denied
any threat to Russia from Ukraine or Western countries.
Meanwhile,
during his address at the Victory Day parade in Moscow’s Red Square to mark
Russia’s victory over Germany in the Second World War, Putin said Russia’s
military operation in Ukraine was a preemptive move against future aggression.
Putin praised the achievement of the Soviet people during
World War II and further addressed the Kremlin's reasons for the ongoing
conflict between Moscow and Kyiv.
Putin
insisted Russia had to act because of a security threat in the eastern Donbass
region and added “we saw the military infrastructure unfolding in Ukraine;
hundreds of foreign advisers starting their work; there were regular deliveries
of the most modern weapons from NATO countries. The danger grew every day,” the
president explained.
“Russia gave a preemptive rebuff to aggression – this was a
forced, timely, and the only right decision by a sovereign, strong and
independent country,” he added, referring to the launch of the military
operation.
“Despite all the disagreements in international relations,
Russia has always advocated the creation of a system of equal and indivisible
security,” Putin continued.
The Russian leader highlighted Moscow’s attempts to engage
in dialogue on security guarantees with Washington late last year, which the
latter failed to address.
Experts say providing those guarantees could have, in
essence, prevented a war, had the White House responded to reassure Russia and
address its security concerns.
“NATO countries didn’t want to hear us, which means that, in
fact, they harbored completely different plans, and we saw it,” Putin
added.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has resurrected a World
War II act to accelerate weapons shipments to Ukraine for its battle against
Russian forces.
Weapons
sent under this act are separate from the nearly US$4 billion in military aid
that the US has already sent to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s military
operation in February, and from the US$33 billion worth of military aid that
the president recently asked Congress to approve.
He also signaled that he is ready to make a political
concession in Congress to win quick approval of a request for another US$33
billion in funds to send more weapons to Ukraine.
Biden
said he is ready to drop funding for the Covid-19 pandemic for Americans and
just get the money for weapons to Ukraine through.
Some Democrats have expressed disappointment the COVID-19
aid would be considered separately.
Senior Senate Democrat Dick Durbin told reporters, "It
would have been so much better for us to protect the United States as well as
worked to protect Ukraine,"
Asked if separating Ukraine aid hurts prospects for COVID-19
aid, Durbin said, "It doesn't help. Putting those two together would have
been positive."
The act, which passed Congress last month with 417-10 votes
in the House and flew with flying colors in the Senate, suspends limitations on
the number of weapons and other military supplies Biden can send to Ukraine or other
Eastern European countries.
However, it does stipulate that Kyiv must subsequently pay
for whatever it receives. Kyiv’s ability to later repay the US has been under
the spotlight, considering Zelensky
had recently asked the US and the EU for US$7 billion per month to keep the
country’s economy afloat.
Critics
have accused the US and its NATO allies of prolonging the war and suffering of
Ukrainians by sending weapons, instead of backing the peace process to end the
war.
Even the unprecedented sanctions imposed against Russia have
been questioned as the measures have failed to end the conflict.
Experts
argue Washington triggered the war and is trying to ensure the fighting stays
at an impasse in a bit to confront Russia’s rising economy and military
strength as well as its growing ties with other EU nations.
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters
that Biden was not happy with leaks to American news outlets in which US
intelligence took credit for helping Ukraine target a Russian ship and Russian
generals in Ukraine.
"The president was displeased with the leaks… and he
did not feel they were constructive," she said.
The American news reports do not indicate how many Russian
generals had been killed in Ukraine using the US intelligence to locate their
whereabouts.
