French President Emmanuel Macron awaits the arrival of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez for a meeting at the Elysee Palace, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Paris, France March 21, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo
PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday his dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin has stalled after mass killings in Ukraine were discovered.
“Since the massacres that we discovered in Bucha and in other cities, the war has taken a different turn, so I haven’t spoken to him directly since then, but I don’t rule it out in the future,” Macron told France 5 TV.
Russia has described the allegations that its troops executed civilians in Bucha when it occupied the city as a “monstrous fabrication” designed to denigrate the Russian army.
Asked why he hadn’t followed the lead of other European leaders and traveled to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, Macron said a show of support per se was not necessary after Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
“I will return to Kyiv, but I will go there to bring something useful … because it is obvious that I do not have to travel there to show that support,” Macron said, adding that he was speaking around 40 times since the beginning of the war to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“If I go to Kyiv, it’s to make a difference,” he said.
The Kremlin says it has launched a “military special operation” to demilitarize Ukraine and “rid” it of nationalist extremists. Ukraine and the West say Putin has launched an unprovoked war of aggression.
Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Nick Macfie