“Discussing the war in Ukraine now does not make much sense,” says French ambassador to Ukraine

“I think there was not much doubt that discussing the war in Ukraine now does not actually make much sense,” declared Thursday April 4 on franceinfo Gaël Veyssière, French ambassador to Ukraine. He reacted to the phone call on Wednesday between the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, and his Russian counterpart Sergei Choïgu. A first since October 2022. This call, however, gave rise to divergent reports between Paris and Moscow with on one side the Russian Ministry of Defense which affirms that the two countries had said “willing to dialogue” regarding the conflict in Ukraine. Comments which were immediately denied by Paris.

For Gaël Veyssière, now discuss the war in Ukraine “doesn’t actually make much sense.” He adds that “That was not the purpose of the phone call from the French Minister of the Armed Forces to his counterpart.” The purpose of this phone call, he asserts, was above all “to talk about the terrorist attack which took place in Moscow in a context where we are preparing the Olympic and Paralympic Games” in Paris. This exchange between the two ministers comes shortly after the attack on March 22 near Moscow which left at least 144 dead and several hundred injured. This attack was claimed by the Islamic State.

Different versions

For Gaël Veyssière, the fact that Russia does not give the same version as France on the exchange on Wednesday evening between the two countries shows that “The Russians are trying to prove, to indicate that the Ukrainians were responsible for this attack” occurred in Moscow. “This is not our analysis”, he adds. “The President of the Republic said it clearly, as did the Minister of the Armed Forces. In addition, the attack was claimed by an Islamist group: the Islamic State in Khorassan.”

“The Russian narrative, continues the ambassador, is to say that it is not a war but a special operation and that if it is a war, it is between Russia and NATO. It is not the case at all”. He recalls that “It’s a war imposed by Russia on Ukraine” and that Ukraine “is supported by certain friendly countries, including us, but we are not belligerents, we are not at war with Russia.”