"Peace is not capitulation": Macron warns against easing support for Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron has called for continued assistance to Ukraine, against which Russia is waging a war of aggression.

He said that standing on the side of peace today means providing Ukraine with the means to defend its borders and its sovereignty.

"Peace is not capitulation. Peace is not abandoning principles," Macron noted after talks with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin, as reported by German TV news service Tagesschau.

At the same time, Steinmeier also emphasised that assistance to Ukraine should not be suspended.

On Sunday, 26 May, Macron arrived in Germany for a three-day visit. This is the first state visit by a French president to Germany in 24 years.

Macron's visit is seen as a test of the "health" of Franco-German relations, as there have been prolonged tensions between Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Earlier, the French president stated that in the third year of the full-scale war, Russian leader Vladimir Putin is not ready for peace. 

Prior to that, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed that he does not fully understand the idea of a "truce" during the Paris Olympics, calling the proposal "a story born dead."