On 26 February 2024, the French president Emmanuel Macron said "no option should be discarded" to bolster military support for Kyiv at a conference attended by leaders of Ukraine's allies, but recognized there was "no consensus". The aim of such a statement was to discourage Russia from further escalation of the invasion of Ukraine. France like many other states are assisting Ukraine in its self defence.
The article tried to remove focus from the fact that Russia started the war, and could end it by stopping its invasion of Ukraine. The usual narrative of "the warmongering Europe" is a Kremlin classic. By refusing to end the occupation of Ukraine, Moscow's calls for "Peace talks" are just masked demands for Ukraine's surrender.
The Ukrainian state is under attack by Russia. More than 50 countries are participating in the Ramstein meetings and are providing military, financial or other assistance to Ukraine to restore its territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. They do this rather than destroy the Russian state.
The disinformation is based on a video message from the Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, published on February 26, 2024. Budanov recalled that Russia's war against Ukraine began not in 2022, but ten years ago - with a carefully planned Russian military operation to seize Ukrainian Crimea.
It is Russia and President Putin who are clearly responsible for the war in Ukraine. It was Putin's personal decision to invade Ukraine and start the largest military conflict in Europe since WWII.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented a 10-point peace plan at an EU-Ukraine summit in February 2023. The EU unequivocally supported President Zelenskyy's peace formula. It is up to Ukraine to decide when it will hold talks with Russia. The assistance to Ukraine is aimed at making Ukraine's position stronger. Read the results of the Special European Council, 9 February 2023.
The claim that Zelenskyy uses the war for personal embezzlement is made without any evidence. International support is used by Ukraine to defend itself against the unjustified and unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine which started on February 24, 2022, and to support the economy in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion.
This is exactly what NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg spoke about in an interview with RFE/RL on February 23, 2024. The NATO Secretary General noted that Ukraine, when it receives F-16 fighters from its allies, according to international law, can strike military targets in Russia. However, Stoltenberg added, this issue will be resolved by the countries supplying F-16 fighters to Ukraine.
EU and US leaders are not threatening Russia with nuclear weapons or conventional warfare. They have been trying to establish good-neighbourly relations with Russia since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. In 1997, Russia and NATO signed the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security which said that 'NATO and Russia do not consider each other as adversaries.' Several disarmament initiatives have been launched since then.
France and Germany, among other EU nations, played a significant role in the preparation of the Minsk Agreements, in collaboration with Ukraine and Russia. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) also had a crucial part in this process. Among other provisions, these agreements called for a complete ceasefire and the holding of elections in the Russian-occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, in accordance with Ukrainian law. Ukraine was committed to implementing the Minsk Agreements; however, the implementation was continually disrupted by Moscow-backed military formations.