French President Emmanuel Macron has said that Paris will continue to support Ukraine even after it signs a peace treaty with Russia. On May 13, he stressed on the TF1 television channel that the Ukrainian army should become the main guarantor of Kyiv’s security.
Macron also noted that if Ukraine does not join NATO, France will deploy international peacekeeping forces away from the front lines to provide additional security.
He also noted that the Ukrainians realize that they cannot return all the territories that Russia has seized since 2014, and the war must end through negotiations.
“And even the Ukrainians themselves are farsighted enough to say that they will not be able to return everything that Russia has taken from them since 2014,” Macron emphasized.
He added that there is no need to transfer frozen assets from Russia to Ukraine now, as there is no legal basis, but they should be used for reconstruction after the war’s end.
If Russia does not agree to the 30-day ceasefire demand voiced by Ukrainian and Western countries, France is ready to impose new, more stringent sanctions, including secondary restrictions on banks that help circumvent existing sanctions. Economic pressure will also increase on the Russian oil sector.
