Emmanuel Macron says neither Russia nor Ukraine should be humiliated after war ends

As Russia-Ukraine war has entered its day 76, French President Emmanuel Macron has stressed that Europe must learn from its “past mistakes” and must ensure that neither Moscow or Kyiv should be humiliated when a peace agreement is struck, emulating an example of Germany in 1918. Speaking to reporters in Strasbourg on Europe Day commemorated on May 9, French President Macron stated that both Russia and Ukraine will eventually have to sit down and “negotiate with each other.” 

Essentially the tough conditions, and harsh behaviour towards Germany by the Armistice of 11 November 1918 “laid the ground for Hitler’s rise,” warned the French President. “It’s our historic obligation to respond to that today and to create what I would call a European political community. This new European organisation would allow European democratic nations adhering to our core values to find a new space for co-operation on politics, security, energy, transport, infrastructure investments and the movement of people, especially the young," said Macron. 

“We will have a peace to build tomorrow, let us never forget that,” Macron said. He continued, “We will have to do this with Ukraine and Russia around the table. The end of the discussion and the negotiation will be set by Ukraine and Russia. But it will not be done in denial, nor in exclusion of each other, nor even in humiliation.”

'We are not at war with Russia..'

In a tweet, Macron clarified, “We are not at war with Russia.” Europeans stand for the preservation of the ‘sovereignty and territorial integrity’ of Ukraine. “For the return of peace to our continent. We will be there to rebuild Ukraine, as Europeans, always”, said Macron. “We must have this standard because we know that the coming weeks and months will be very difficult,” Macron added. “It is up to Ukraine alone to define the conditions for any negotiations with Russia,” he reiterated. 

Macron’s comments were in contradiction to the United States, as Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin had earlier said that he wanted to see Russian President Vladimir Putin “weakened.” As Putin witnessed a massive military parade in Moscow on WWII Victory Day, with ballistic missiles and tanks and his armed forces celebrating 1945 defeat of the Nazis, Macron called for deeper cooperation between non-EU countries including Russia, Ukraine and the UK. "The European Union, given the level of its integration and ambition, cannot be in the short term the only means of structuring the European continent," he said.