Ukraine: "We must avoid the worst", Macron will meet Sunday with Putin

Europe 1 with AFP 6:49 a.m., February 19, 2022, modified at 6:49 a.m., February 19, 2022

French President Emmanuel Macron will speak by telephone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday and on Saturday with Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky, to try "again to avoid the worst" in Ukraine, the Elysee Palace said on Friday evening.

The risk of a Russian invasion

IT is necessary "to try everything, to do everything so that the worst does not happen", hammered the French presidency, evoking a "risk of a Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory under the control of the government" of Kiev, and not only of the pro-Russian separatist territories in eastern Ukraine.

"We believe that we still have the possibility of dissuading President Putin from carrying out the attack on Ukraine", noted an adviser to Emmanuel Macron after a telephone exchange between the heads of state and government of major Western countries.

The exchange brought together American Joe Biden, Canadian Justin Trudeau, Ursula von der Leyen (President of the EU Commission), Charles Michel (President of the Council of the EU), Italian Mario Draghi, Jens Stoltenberg (NATO chief), German Olaf Scholz, Polish Andrzej Duda, Romanian Klaus Johannis, Briton Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron.

European security under threat

“We must try everything to avoid a confrontation which will be destabilizing for the security of the European continent, for Russia, for the European partners, which will put us in another geostrategic configuration if by chance Russia invades Ukraine”, continued the Elysee.

Westerners do not observe "no withdrawal of Russian forces" stationed at the gates of Ukraine, contrary to announcements made for several days by Russia, the French presidency insisted.

President Putin's visit scheduled for Saturday to Belarus, Ukraine's neighbor, where joint maneuvers are continuing, is "rather signals of escalation than de-escalation", she added.

France has "no doubt" that the cyberattacks hitting Ukraine "come from Russia", she also noted.