The President of France Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that his dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin has stalled after mass killings were discovered in Ukraine.
Macron said, “Since the massacres, we have traced in Bucha and in other towns, the war has taken a different turn, so I did not speak to him again directly since, but I don’t rule out doing so in the future.”
Russia has called the accusations its forces executed civilians in Bucha while occupying the town a “monstrous forgery” aimed at denigrating the Russian troops.
While referring to the general query of why he had not followed the example of other European leaders and travelled to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, Macron stated that a show of support by itself was not required after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, President Macron while adding that he had spoken around 40 times since the beginning of the war to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “I will go back to Kyiv, but I will not go there to bring something useful with me. As it is obvious that I do not need to travel there to show this support.”
He further added that, “If I go to Kyiv, it will be to make a difference.”
The Kremlin added that it launched a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “liberate” Ukraine from nationalist extremists. Ukraine and the West say Putin launched an unprovoked war of aggression.