French President Emmanuel Macron calls for continued military assistance to Ukraine to help the country defend against Russia’s war of aggression. Tagesschau reported that Macron made this statement after talks with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin.
The French president emphasized that today, standing on the side of peace means giving Ukraine opportunities to defend its borders and sovereignty.
“Standing on the side of peace today means giving strength to the law. Peace is not surrender. Peace is not the abandonment of principles. Peace means giving a country the opportunity to defend its borders and its sovereignty.”
French President Emmanuel Macron
Frank-Walter Steinmeier also underlined the importance of continuing aid to Ukraine.
Recently, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pointed out that Russian President Vladimir Putin was prepared to accept 24,000 Russian soldiers dying or being seriously wounded every month, in addition to many Ukrainian victims, for his “imperialist dreams.”.
This week, France and Germany will reveal their plans to collaborate more closely to boost Europe’s air defense. Paris and Berlin are responding by pushing for more commitments to EU security after Russia attacked Ukraine and continues to pour missiles on Ukrainian cities, Bloomberg reported.
This initiative is one of several key policies that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed during the French president’s state visit, sources said.
According to the sources, the options include the addition of another European air defense system to supplement the German-led European Sky Shield Initiative, which includes Israel’s Arrow 3 and US Patriot missiles, as well as the German-made IRIS-T system, which is backed by 21 nations. France, along with Italy, has developed an air defense system called SAMP-T (Mamba).
Macron arrived in Germany on Sunday for a three-day visit. It is the first state visit by a French president to Germany in 24 years. Given the long-standing strained relations between Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, many view Macron’s visit as a test of the “health” of Franco-German relations.
Earlier, the French president said that in the third year of a full-scale war, Russian President Vladimir Putin was not ready for peace.
