The French president repeated to his Ukrainian counterpart on Friday “his determination to work for a ceasefire allowing evacuations” in Mariupol and “allowing the entry into the city of humanitarian aid”.
Emmanuel Macron spoke again on Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who asked him to try “to obtain from Russia the necessary conditions for a humanitarian operation in Mariupol”, besieged and bombarded by the Russian army, according to the Elysee. The Red Cross hoped to carry out an evacuation operation this Friday with around fifty buses, but is not sure of being able to achieve this, due to a lack of security guarantees, a spokesperson explained at noon on Friday. Moscow had however assured Thursday evening that a humanitarian corridor would be open from Friday morning. As Volodymyr Zelensky pointed out to the French president, “this implies a truce that is sufficiently long and announced sufficiently in advance”.
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In this perspective, France will continue its support
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Emmanuel Macron announced last Friday that he wanted to organize very quickly, with the Red Cross and the UN, a humanitarian operation in Mariupol, with Greece and Turkey. But he failed to obtain sufficient guarantees from Vladimir Putin, whom he spoke to on Tuesday. The French president repeated to his Ukrainian counterpart on Friday “his determination to work for a ceasefire allowing evacuations” in Mariupol and “allowing the entry into the city of humanitarian aid”.
“France will continue in this perspective its political, military, economic and humanitarian support to the country”, he assured him. The two presidents have maintained constant contact, with almost daily phone calls since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.