PARIS (Reuters) – It would be “collective guilt” if nothing is done to help civilians Mariupol, a Ukrainian city besieged by Russian forces, Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Sunday.
“Today we are in the siege war and Mariupol is the most striking example of this,” said the French Minister of Foreign Affairs on the occasion of the international conference of the Doha Forum.
“It’s a horrible war, the civilian populations are massacred, destroyed, the suffering is terrible (…)”, he continued.
Jean-Yves Le Drian believes that these populations must be offered a moment of respite in battles which he considers “exhausting” and which lead to “unbearable tragedies”.
“This is what the President of the French Republic is working on,” he added.
Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that an “exceptional humanitarian operation” was being prepared, in conjunction with Turkey and Greece, to evacuate residents of Mariupol and on Saturday the mayor of the city, Vadim Botchenko, discussed with the French Ambassador of the modalities of such an operation.
(Report Mimosa Spencer; French version Claude Chendjou)