"There will be no Russian victory in Ukraine; we will not allow it." Sources from the Elysée have expressed themselves with this forcefulness this Sunday, on the eve of a summit that will bring together in Paris tomorrow, Monday, some twenty heads of state and government from Kyiv's allied countries, including the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez.
The meeting in the French capital is an initiative of President Emmanuel Macron, who on Saturday could not participate in the virtual meeting of the G-7 leaders because he was trapped in the International Agricultural Show due to the angry protest of farmers.
The Elysée has generated great expectations that could be disappointed if only rhetoric and no tangible commitments emerge from the Paris meeting. According to presidential palace sources, this is a conference "of an exceptional nature in the context of high volatility and concern about the progress of the war in Ukraine." The objective of the meeting "is unity and action" to "reverse the trend" of the conflict in recent months, which is turning out to be favorable to Russia. "We want to do more and better," he stressed.
Macron met by telephone with the US president, Joe Biden, last Friday to coordinate the strategy and the message that should be given. The French president is concerned about "the volatility" emanating from the United States due to the non-approval by Congress of the large aid package for Ukraine and the uncertainty that exists about the consequences of Donald Trump's victory in the November presidential elections. . Biden will not be in Paris. He will be represented by a deputy secretary of state, Jim O'Brien.
The Elysée tries to get Ukraine's allies, with their clear position, to contradict the defeatist or fatigue impression that is being imposed. "We are not fatigued; we are extremely determined," the sources insisted. "The message is that Putin will not win in Ukraine." This idea was repeated several times.
The French initiative is justified, in the opinion of the Elysée, by the "hardening" of Russian behavior and its "aggressiveness" beyond the Ukrainian theater of operations. This aggressiveness is also manifested against the West, including France. The presidential sources alluded to the campaign of graffiti with the Star of David on the facades of buildings in Paris, an action that is attributed to the Russian intelligence services and that had destabilizing purposes at a time of resurgence of anti-Semitism. as well as the constant disinformation campaigns. The French authorities see this aggressiveness of the Kremlin in acts such as the murder in Alicante of the defecting Ukrainian helicopter pilot, the death of Alexei Navalni, in prison, or the expansion of Russian paramilitary forces in Africa after the forced French withdrawal from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
