French President Emmanuel Macron has outlined a general medium-term security outlook on the conflict in Ukraine by recommending, after pledging to continue sending aid to the Kiev government, that Russia receive some kind of «security guarantee» if it decides to sit down to negotiate an end to the conflict.
«In the coming weeks, we will have to help Ukraine to resist, the Ukrainians to hold on, to continue to help militarily and to intervene very precisely to protect the power plants,» Macron explained in an interview broadcast Saturday on TF1.
However, the president has also recommended to continue to prepare «dialogue» for «the day when everyone will return to the (negotiating) table»
«There is one thing that depends on the Ukrainians, it is the question of borders. It is something we should prepare for,» stated the president, fresh from a visit to the United States, where he has met with President Joe Biden, during which the two discussed «the security architecture in which we want to live tomorrow.»
Macron has thus referred to Russia’s fears about NATO’s presence on its borders, especially when countries such as Sweden or Finland have asked to join in the wake of the conflict.
«It is a question that is part of the factors for peace and, therefore, for which we have to be prepared: what are we ready to do, how do we protect our allies and member states, while giving guarantees for their own security to Russia the day it comes back to the table?» he has questioned.
