Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has hit out at comments made by French President Emmanuel Macron, who stated on Saturday that Russia should not be humiliated over its invasion of Ukraine.
Macron insisted Putin had committed a “historical and fundamental error” but that it was important not to put Russia to shame “so that the day the fighting stops, we can build a way out through diplomatic channels.”
Kuleba voiced his concerns over Macron’s stance on Twitter on Saturday afternoon, saying that “calls to avoid the humiliation of Russia can only humiliate France and every other country that would call for it because it is Russia that humiliates itself.
“We all better focus on how to put Russia in its place. This will bring peace and save lives,” Kuleba concluded.
Macron has been aiming to maintain dialogue with Vladimir Putin since the beginning of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, and the French president said he was “convinced that it is France’s role to be a mediating power” on Saturday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also responded to Macron’s comment in his video address on Saturday, saying that “the Russian army can stop burning churches and destroying cities. The Russian army can stop killing children if one person in Moscow simply gives such an order.”
“And the fact that there is still no such order is obviously a humiliation for the whole world.”
