Macron and Zelensky Talk Security

French President Emmanuel Macron held an in-depth phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky on August 1 to discuss security cooperation between the two nations. 

The French leader agreed that a key priority for international cooperation was in assisting Kyiv in gaining access to modern weapons that would help Ukraine to fight-off Russia’s five-month long, illegal invasion. To that end, the French Head of State pledged further support.

Upon thanking Macron for the medical support that France has already sent to Ukraine, Zelensky emphasized that Russia’s murder of Ukrainian Prisoners of War last week, in Olenivka, Donetsk region, was evidence that Ukraine is “waging a war against a real terrorist state” which had “cynically planned” to murder the Ukrainian soldiers who had been captured by Russia.

Zelensky added that this was just one more example of the types of war crimes committed by Vladimir Putin’s soldiers.

This past week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov travelled to Africa in an attempt to invigorate support for his nation’s war against Ukraine and to blame the impending food crisis on the U.S. and the West.

With this likely in-mind, Macron made it known to Zelensky that during his own trip to Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau in Africa, he had managed to expand the coalition of countries opposed to the invasion of Ukraine.

France, which has been quite clear in its desire to assist in the post-war rebuilding of war-torn Ukraine, received verbal support from Zelensky who made reference to the Fast Recovery Plan and the expected short-term financial support that Ukraine will receive.

In the lead-up to the full-scale invasion at the start of the year, the French President visited and was in regular communication with Putin, whom he sought to dissuade from invading Ukraine.

Despite criticism that Macron had spent more time speaking with Putin than with Zelensky, Macron had earlier stated that it was necessary and that he had hoped to be able to reason with the Russian President. Macron had also argued that the West must keep open an “exit ramp” for the Russian President to be able to “save face” and not continue his Ukrainian misadventure.

President Emmannuel Macron first took office in 2017 and won re-election this past April with 58.6% of the vote against right-wing populist Marine Le Pen.