French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking on Monday, the 6th of January, at the annual conference of French ambassadors to outline their strategy for the year, said that Ukraine needs a realistic position on territorial issues to reach negotiations with Russia, reports Reuters.
This is the first time Macron has hinted that Kyiv should consider territorial losses, although in the past he has repeatedly called for Ukraine’s territorial integrity to be preserved in any talks to end the war.
“The Ukrainians must have a realistic discussion on territorial issues and only they can do that,
and the Europeans look forward to the creation of security guarantees which will be their responsibility,” Macron said.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and now controls large swathes of eastern Ukraine since launching a major offensive in 2022.
The US would have to persuade Russia to come to the negotiating table, he said, while adding that without the direct involvement of Ukraine and Europe, a solution to the conflict could not be agreed.
Speaking at a press conference in Paris, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski made it clear that his country’s position has not changed and said that only Ukraine can decide on the future of its borders.
“Poland believes that the most natural and lasting solution would be a return to recognised borders,” he said. “Let us remember that it was President Vladimir Putin who personally negotiated and ratified the border agreement between Russia and Ukraine in 2004.”
Macron reiterated that Ukraine’s allies must ensure that Kyiv has sufficient support to be able to enter into any negotiations from a position of strength. He made no new concrete commitments to help Ukraine.
“There will be no quick and easy solution”, Macron said, referring to US President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to end the war quickly.
On Monday, Russia reported advances in eastern Ukraine, capturing the town of Kurakhove and the nearby village of Dachene as its forces advanced towards the logistics hub of Pokrovsk.
DeepState, a Ukrainian monitoring group that tracks the front line through open sources, said that most of Kurakhove is under Russian control.
Intense fighting also continued in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine launched a counter-offensive on Sunday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that Moscow had lost 15 000 soldiers in the five months of fighting in Kursk.
Both sides are trying to improve their positions ahead of US President Donald Trump taking office on the 20th of January.
Ukraine’s main achievement in the five months of fighting has been to hold territory in Russia’s Kursk region that could be used in possible peace talks.
In a speech on Monday evening, Zelenskyy said that in the new offensive, Ukrainian forces created a buffer zone, inflicted heavy casualties and disrupted the movement of Russian troops to the eastern front. No further details of Ukraine’s new offensive in Kursk were disclosed.