“He will come, and he will see, and I am sure he will understand.
In an interview with CNN broadcast this Sunday, Volodymyr Zelensky invited Emmanuel Macron to go to Ukraine to see that the Russian army is committing genocide in the country.
A term that the latter has so far refused to use.
“I told him that I wanted him to understand that this is not a war, that it is nothing but genocide.
I invited him to come when he has the opportunity, ”said the Ukrainian president in this interview shot on Friday on the American channel.
Emmanuel Macron, in the middle of the campaign for his re-election in the presidential election next Sunday in France, explained Thursday that the word "genocide" should in his opinion be "qualified by lawyers, not by politicians" and that "enter into the 'verbal escalation' was 'not helping Ukraine'.
The Ukrainian president had initially considered this refusal "very hurtful".
"I think he wants to get Russia to engage in dialogue," Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN on Friday.
To read also Genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity... how to qualify the abuses committed in Ukraine?
In the same interview, the latter also said he wanted Joe Biden to come to Ukraine, who surprised him by saying this week that Russian forces were committing "genocide".
"I think he will come," "but the decision is up to him, of course, it depends on the security situation," he said.
“But I think he is the leader of the United States and for that he should come and see.
The US government is considering sending an envoy to kyiv, but the White House has so far ruled out a high-risk trip by the president himself.
