The war has been going on for more than six months.
And some are already anticipating the end and the outcome.
Among the latter, the former President of the Republic François Hollande.
Guest of LCI on Wednesday evening, the man who led tough negotiations with Vladimir Putin in 2015 - in order to find an agreement in the conflict which was already raging in Ukraine - considers that the Russian president "
can and must lose
" the war.
"
He can lose because militarily things have not gone as he had imagined
," analyzes the former head of state.
Who adds: "
Even if he had this project for a long time,
(Vladimir Putin)
had not conceived that the Ukrainians could resist as they did and that they were also better prepared than he had anticipated.
»
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While the Russian army has been experiencing serious setbacks in eastern Ukraine for a few days, François Hollande hopes that the nations will "
inflict
" a "
military defeat
" on Vladimir Putin.
For a reason:
"It will guard against any use of force by Russia in the future and against other powers which are tempted today to no longer respect international law."
The opportunity also to mock the words of his successor Emmanuel Macron when the tenant of the Elysee Palace declared last week that France "
was at war
".
“
We are not going to become belligerent ourselves.
When I hear “we are at war
”...
We are not at war, us.
We don't have war here and we're not going to do it.
We must support a democratic, independent country that has been invaded.
»
On the question of the economic sanctions which have hit Russia since February, and which is the subject of debate in the political class, the former President of the Republic indicates that the latter are “
effective
”.
"
They considerably penalize the Russian economy which can no longer obtain new technologies and the difficulties that Vladimir Putin has today with his army are partly due to the fact that he lacks supplies linked to the sanctions
", specifies Francois Hollande.
Which has a certainty: it is not because the sanctions would be lifted that the Russian president would stop the war.
"
On the contrary
".