Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calls for his country’s membership in NATO and the EU in the face of the Russian threat and urges Europeans, led by French President Emmanuel Macron who will receive him on Friday, to put words into action.
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“We cannot stay indefinitely in the EU and NATO waiting room,” said the Ukrainian leader, who is also due to meet with Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday by videoconference, in an interview with the French daily Le Figaro published Thursday evening on the newspaper’s website.
“The time has come to move up a gear, to invite us to join the EU and NATO,” he added, denouncing a “violent aggression” by Russia against his country.
For several weeks, clashes have been increasing between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists in Donbass (eastern Ukraine), while tens of thousands of Russian soldiers have been deployed nearby.
Ukraine fears that Moscow is trying to push it into error in an attempt to justify an armed operation. The Kremlin ensures for its part “not to threaten anyone” and denounces in return Ukrainian “provocations” and “threatening” activities of NATO.
Volodymyr Zelensky calls in particular on his French counterpart, who poses as the champion of the European Union.
“If the EU and if Emmanuel Macron truly consider us a member of the European family, they must act accordingly. It’s time to stop talking and make decisions, ”he said.
“If we belong to the same family, we have to live together. We cannot go out together forever, like eternal fiancés, we must legalize our relations, have children, that is to say, from an allegorical point of view, consider a common future ”, he said. -he adds.
The Ukrainian president also deplores that his French counterpart has “better relations” with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Poutine than with him. “Especially at this time, where Ukraine […] really needs European support, ”he insisted.