Paris: After a 90-minute phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron believes “the worst is yet to happen” in Ukraine. An aide of the French president said the intentions that Putin had with Emmanuel Macron during the phone call were revealing his intentions to seize “the whole” of Ukraine.
The “worst period of the war is yet to come” in Ukraine
“President Macron expects the worst is yet to come in Ukraine, as President Putin told him,” a senior aide of the French leader told reporters on condition of anonymity. The French presidential aide continued, “There was nothing in what President Vladimir Putin told us that would assure us of the end of the war. He appeared very determined to continue military operations in Ukraine.”
Putin says Ukraine needs to ‘de-nazify’
Emmanuel Macron’s aide further said, “Vladimir Putin wants to control the whole of Ukraine. In Putin’s words, he will carry out his military operation to the end to ‘de-Nazify’ Ukraine (to de-Nazify, free the Nazis). You can understand the extent to which these words are shocking and unacceptable. President Macron told him (Putin) that this cannot be true, say these things are false.”
Putin denies allegations of targeting civilians
Macron also urged Putin to avoid civilian casualties and allow humanitarian access, according to an aide to the French president. “Putin agreed to President Macron’s request, but made no commitments,” the aide said. According to the aide, Putin denied Kyiv’s allegations that Russian forces were carrying out attacks targeting civilians and residential buildings in Ukraine.
An aide to the French president said Emmanuel Macron would push for additional sanctions on Moscow due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The aide, however, denied any tension during the phone call between the two leaders. An aide to the French president said, “President Putin’s way of talking is very neutral and clinical. He sometimes shows impatience during the conversation, but there was no tension between the two during the phone conversation.
