French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that Europe must prepare for war if it wants peace, calling President Vladimir Putin’s Russia an adversary that will not stop in Ukraine if it defeats Kiev’s troops in the ongoing conflict. already two years.
Macron sparked controversy last month after he said he could not rule out deploying ground troops to Ukraine in the future, with many leaders distancing themselves from the issue while others, especially in eastern Europe, expressed support.
“If Russia wins this war, Europe’s credibility will be reduced to zero,” Macron said in a televised interview. He added that it was important for Europe not to draw red lines, which would signal weakness to the Kremlin and encourage it to press ahead with its invasion of Ukraine.
Additionally, he declined to provide details on what a deployment to Ukraine might look like. “I have reasons for not being precise,” she said. “I am not going to give visibility (to Putin).”
Meanwhile, he noted that France would never initiate an offensive against Russia and that Paris was not at war with Moscow, even though Russia had launched attacks against French interests inside and outside France.
Macron explained that Ukraine was in a “difficult” situation on the ground and that greater support from allies was necessary.
He also said he hoped that one day the time would come to negotiate peace with a Russian president “whoever that may be,” contemplating for the first time the possibility that Putin would no longer be in charge in Russia.
“If Ukraine falls, our security will be threatened. If the escalation continues, we have to be ready to make all the necessary decisions so that Russia never wins,” Macron assured.
Aware of the seriousness of the situation, the French president maintained alarmist language, pointing out that the war is “less than 1,100 kilometers from Strasbourg” and speaking of a conflict “existential for Europe and for France.”
“If we decide to be weak in front of someone like Putin, who has no limits, if we naively tell him that we will not surpass this or that limit, it would not be seeking peace; “It would be assuming defeat,” he said.
Macron described Russia as a “destabilizing power” and Putin as being in a “repressive and authoritarian drift” in his country, but after remembering that he has been “the current international leader who has spoken the most with him,” he stated that “one day “We will have to do it again.”
Although he specified that “there will be no lasting peace if there is no sovereignty and return to internationally recognized borders in Ukraine,” for which he asked to continue supporting Kiev.
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