PARIS — French President
Emmanuel Macron on
Monday accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of hypocrisy and cynicism
after Moscow said it would open humanitarian corridors to allow the evacuation
of civilians from several Ukrainian cities, but only to Russia or Belarus.
اضافة اعلان
"All this is not serious, it is moral
and political cynicism, which I find intolerable," Macron told LCI
television in an interview.
He added that promises to protect civilians
only so that they could flee towards
Russia were "hypocritical".
"I do not know many Ukrainians who want
to go to Russia," he added, saying that full ceasefires to protect
civilians were needed rather than corridors.
Moscow announced the proposed escape routes
from Kharkiv,
Kyiv, Mariupol, and Sumy after Putin and Macron spoke by
telephone on Sunday, saying the move was taken after a "personal
request" by Macron.
But the Elysee Palace said no such request
was made and Macron accused Moscow of a "PR stunt" with its
announcement.
Macron warned the situation in
Ukraine was
worsening by the day and international attempts to agree a ceasefire had so far
failed.
He said a top priority was to avoid
"catastrophes" with Ukraine's nuclear power plants after Europe's
largest atomic power plant Zaporizhzhia was attacked and seized by invading
Russian forces last week.
There are four active nuclear plants in the
country as well as the Chernobyl facility that was the site of the 1986 nuclear
disaster.
But Macron also insisted that "France
is not at war with Russia", adding that "what we want is to stop this
war without becoming belligerents ourselves".
Macron spoke to Putin on Sunday for one hour
and 45 minutes, the fourth time they had spoken since the
Russian invasion of
Ukraine on February 24.
Russia would reach its objectives in Ukraine
"either through negotiation or through war", Putin told Macron
according to a French presidential official, adding the Russian president also
pledged "it was not his intention" to attack Ukrainian nuclear sites.
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