Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated, in an interview with AFP on Friday, that he had rejected the idea of a “truce” in the war with Russia for the duration of the Paris Olympic Games that French President Emmanuel Macron wanted.
“I said: Emmanuel, we don’t believe it. Let’s imagine for a second that there is a ceasefire. First, we don’t trust [Vladimir] Poutine. Second, he is not going to withdraw his troops. Thirdly, […] tell me Emmanuel, I said, who guarantees that Russia will not take advantage of this to bring its troops to our territory,” said Mr. Zelensky, rejecting a “truce that would play into the hands of the enemy.”
“We are not against a truce, we are not against the end of the war. But we want a just end to this war. And we are against a truce which would play into the hands of the enemy,” he added.
A few hours earlier, the Russian president, traveling in China, had implied that he was opposed to an Olympic truce because his country was banned from the Olympics because of its invasion of Ukraine.
“International sports officials are today violating the principles of the Olympic Charter […] towards Russia by preventing our athletes from participating in the Olympics under their flag, with their national anthem, but they want us to comply with the rules they impose on us,” he declared.
“To demand something from others, you have to respect the rules yourself,” he concluded.
Mr. Macron assured him that he wanted to “do everything” to have an Olympic truce across the world during the Olympics. He said that President Xi Jinping had given him his support in early May.
MM. Xi and Putin, who met at length in Beijing on Thursday, did not publicly discuss the subject.