The war in Ukraine will not end tomorrow or the day after, and Ukrainians must be supported to withstand and enter future negotiations from a position of strength. After the cessation of hostilities, guarantees must be provided to prevent “any return of war to its territory.”
French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized this during his traditional address to the French Armed Forces, reports a Ukrinform correspondent.
“The war [in Ukraine] will not end tomorrow or the day after,” Macron warned.
He reiterated that peace and security in Europe cannot exist without Europeans and negotiations among Europeans.
“The challenge today is to give Ukraine the ability to withstand and enter any future negotiations from a position of strength. The challenge tomorrow, when the fighting stops, will be to provide Ukraine with guarantees against any return of war to its territory, as well as guarantees for our own security,” the French President explained.
Speaking to the command of digital and cyber defense in Cesson-Sévigné, near Rennes, Macron also stressed the need to strengthen the defense industry within a united Europe.
“In a world where rules are vanishing and arsenals are growing, we must go further and faster. We need to scale up, pursue more joint programs, and foster European champions,” he stated.
Macron underlined France’s belief in the strength of NATO, “because it is a natural framework for cooperation with the United States, as long as they remain committed to European security.”
As reported earlier, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the possibility of sending their soldiers to Ukraine as peacekeeping forces following any potential agreement to end the war.
Source: Macron confident war in Ukraine unlikely to end soon
