Zelenskyy responds to Macron's initiative regarding Olympic ceasefire
Photo: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Getty Images)
French President Emmanuel Macron realizes that there is no truce for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the Olympics is not an authority, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Background
The other day, French President Emmanuel Macron said he would work to achieve a ceasefire during the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris. In his opinion, this is in line with the Games' long-standing goal of promoting peace through sport.
According to Macron, he was referring to the Middle East, as well as Ukraine and Sudan, in his proposal.
Zelenskyy's reaction
According to the President of Ukraine, he does not believe in this format of a truce with Russia.
"I do not believe in this with Russia. I do not believe in this format of truce in general, I do not believe in any format of truce with the Russian Federation. Emmanuel (French President Emmanuel Macron - ed.) knows this, he is a witness to this, we were together in the Normandy format. We went through the whole Minsk process together. France, Germany, Ukraine - we are all living witnesses, not in books, but we are living witnesses that there is no such thing as a frozen conflict with Russia. This is an issue for Russia to regroup and give them even more forces to destroy us. We have been through this," Zelenskyy says.
He recalled that a similar situation had already occurred when the Normandy format agreements were signed. Then there were also agreements on a cease-fire period. However, even then some people fired at the Ukrainian military.
"They trained their snipers, who went through and killed our people every day. There is evidence of this. Emanuel knows all this. They were just going hunting. We heard it all through phone intercepts from our intelligence. They had a group of 20-30 specialists who were killing our people every day for several months in a row, even though there was a cease-fire. With sniper shots. That is, for Putin, there is no truce, no Olympics, no authority," Zelenskyy says.
Olympics in Paris
The 2024 Summer Olympics are scheduled to take place from July 26 to August 11. The XXXIII Games will be held in the French capital, Paris.
Recently, in an interview with the Ukrainian media, Macron said that he would demand a ceasefire from Russia during the Olympics. However, Vladimir Putin rejected this idea in advance.
