“No one wants French soldiers to come and shed their blood on our land”, confide residents of kyiv

Dmytro knows this war too well: he left his right leg there after a year of fighting in eastern Ukraine. Like most media outlets, this resident of the Ukrainian capital follows current debates in France and Europe very closely. “If I understood correctly, they are talking about sending military instructors. That’s good, but what we lack is mainly long-range weapons and shells artillery”, he explains.

French deputies are called on Tuesday March 12 to debate and vote on the bilateral security agreement signed between Paris and Kiev in February, which notably provides for three billion euros in military aid for the year 2024. The recent position of Emmanuel Macron, who refused to exclude the possibility of sending French troops to Ukraine, will be at the heart of the debates. Dmytro appreciated this change in tone from the French head of state: “European leaders should all become like Macron. He changed his position and became clearer.”

“They too are afraid of finding themselves caught up in the war”

Clarifying and intensifying Europe’s support for Ukraine at a time when its army is stalling in the face of the Russian invasion is also what Vitaliy expects. “No one wants French soldiers to come and shed their blood on our landsays the 37-year-old man. But if we don’t stop Russia in Ukraine, it will advance further, perhaps as far as France.”

“They too are afraid of finding themselves caught up in the war. We have no right to judge them for that,” tempers Alina, who understands the reluctance of the French to assume the worst. At the age of 21, she had to leave her city, Kherson, to escape the conflicts at the very beginning of the war. “They don’t know what it’s like to see enemy soldiers enter your town, to have your house bombed. You can’t understand that until you experience it.” she concludes.