Another attempt at diplomacy. Emmanuel Macron will meet with Vladimir Putin on Sunday as tension is at its highest on the Ukrainian border.
The last chance for diplomacy? The Élysée announced on Friday that Emmanuel Macron would meet with Vladimir Poutine on Sunday, as tensions at the Ukrainian border continue to rise.
On the side of the French presidency, the tone is very serious after the bombardments which took place in the East of Ukraine. “The risk is growing and we must act to prevent the moment when everything changes”, explains the Elysée, specifying that there is currently “a real concern among the President of the Republic and his partners”.
“We must prepare for an open crisis”, summarizes the presidency.
“Pretexts” for a “military escalation”?
In addition to the discussion with Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this Saturday.
“We fear that fabricated incidents will be manipulated and taken as pretexts for a military escalation,” said Jean-Yves Le Drian in a Press release published this Friday evening.
A statement that goes in the direction of the speech of Joe Biden, who also speaks of “pretext”, citing the bombings and evacuations of civilians to Russia requested by the pro-Russian leaders of Donbass.