Emmanuel Macron on Friday denounced Russia’s “brutal attack” in Ukraine and called on the French to “accept to pay the price of freedom”, while the conflict risks having serious economic consequences, particularly in Europe. “I am thinking of our people, who will need the strength of soul to face the coming times, to resist uncertainties, sometimes to ease and adversity and, united, to agree to pay the price for our freedom and of our values”, launched the Head of State during a ceremony for the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Bormes-les-Mimosas in the Var on August 17, 1944.
Thoughts for the Ukrainian people
“Since the brutal attack launched by Vladimir Putin on February 24, the war has returned to a few hours from our borders on European soil”, he underlined, after speaking during the day by telephone with the master of the Kremlin to send a mission of experts to the nuclear power plant of Zaporijjia, the target of recurrent bombardments which raise fears of a new Chernobyl in the south of Ukraine.
The Head of State called for having a “thought for the Ukrainian people, who are heroically resisting the terrible attacks of the Russian army and its auxiliaries”. “Yes, the ghosts of the spirit of revenge, the flagrant violations of the sovereignty of States, the intolerable contempt of the peoples, the imperialist will reappear from the past to impose themselves in the daily life of our Europe, our neighbors, our friends”, he hammered.
The president had already prepared the French for a difficult return to school and winter, during his July 14 interview, due to the risks of energy shortages and soaring prices induced by the war in Ukraine. “We must all be prepared for (the war) to last. The summer and the beginning of autumn will undoubtedly be very hard”, had launched the president, by evoking the situation of “war economy” in which the country is facing.