Zelenskyy comments on Macron's "Olympic truce" idea

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that he does not believe in implementing French President Emmanuel Macron’s idea of a global ceasefire in Russia’s war against Ukraine for the duration of the 2024 Olympics because Russia will not keep any promises.

Zelenskyy was asked in an interview for renowned French blogger and journalist Hugo Travers what he thought of the French president’s idea of observing a ceasefire in all major conflicts during the Olympics.

"I don’t believe this will work with Russia. Not this format of truce in general, or any format of truce with Russia. Emmanuel knows this, and he has witnessed this himself. We were in the Normandy format together, and we underwent the Minsk process together. France, Germany, Ukraine – we are all living witnesses to the fact that there can be no frozen conflict with Russia," Zelenskyy explained.

He stressed that Russia would use any such pause to regroup and strengthen its forces in order to then launch a new attack, and recalled the months which followed the Normandy talks as an example – there was no ceasefire then, and snipers were constantly tracking and attacking Ukrainian soldiers along the contact line.

"No truce, no Olympics and no authority exists for Putin," Zelenskyy summed up.

French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed that a ceasefire should be observed in the world’s major conflicts – including the war in Ukraine – during the Olympic Games, and he is counting on assistance from China's leader in this regard.

Macron said France is confident that the Olympics opening ceremony on the River Seine in July will be a success, but backup plans are in place in case the security situation requires it.