Lhe refusal on Wednesday by French President Emmanuel Macron to denounce a “genocide” in Ukraine by the Russian army is “very hurtful”, lamented his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky. “If true, such remarks are very hurtful for us”, declared Volodymyr Zelensky during a joint press conference with the Polish, Lithuanian, Estonian and Latvian heads of state, visiting kyiv. “I will do my best to discuss this matter with Emmanuel Macron today. If not, then tomorrow, when he finds time,” Volodymyr Zelensky added.
Earlier in the day, Emmanuel Macron had chosen not to use the term “genocide” used by his American counterpart Joe Biden to accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of it in Ukraine. “I would say that Russia unilaterally started a brutal war, that it is now established that war crimes were committed by the Russian army and that now we must find those responsible,” said Emmanuel Macron at first. “It is madness what is happening, it is incredibly brutal (…) but at the same time I look at the facts and I want to try as much as possible to continue to be able to stop this war and to rebuild peace, so I’m not sure the escalation of words serves the cause,” he continued.
Justin Trudeau follows Biden
The spokesman for Ukrainian diplomacy, Oleg Nikolenko, reacted quickly to the Interfax-Ukraina news agency, deeming Emmanuel Macron’s position “disappointing”. On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden for the first time accused Vladimir Putin of carrying out a “genocide” in Ukraine, a word hitherto used by Volodymyr Zelensky but never by the US administration. On Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also spoke for the first time of a “genocide” in Ukraine. Russia, for its part, defends itself by denouncing a “staging” and “falsifications” orchestrated by the Ukrainians and intended to harm it.
American diplomacy also justified on Wednesday the accusation of “genocide” made the day before by Joe Biden against Russia, considering that the Russian forces wanted to “destroy Ukraine and its civilian population”. “I think once we can get all the evidence together, we’re going to end up coming to the same conclusion as President Biden, because what’s happening on the ground is not an accident,” he said. CNN channel number three in American diplomacy, Victoria Nuland. “It is an intentional decision by Russia and its forces to destroy Ukraine and its people,” she added.
