riendly relations have been developed between Presidents of Ukraine and France Volodymyr Zelensky and Emmanuel Macron, the cooperation of the two countries at present is based on mutual affection and friendship, French Ambassador to Ukraine Etienne de Poncins has said.
“You know about the friendly relationship that has been developed between President Zelensky and President Macron. And one can say that today we are at the stage of mutual affection and friendship both at the level of our state leaders and, of course, of our two peoples,” he told reporters on Wednesday in Kyiv after laying flowers at the Wall of Remembrance of the Victims Who Died for Ukraine in 2014-2017 near St. Michael’s Cathedral.
The ambassador said that with this gesture he wanted to express sympathy and support to the Ukrainian people, and to honor the memory of “those 13,000-14,000 Ukrainians, these are the figures that appear today, that died during the conflict, which, unfortunately, is still ongoing in the east of Ukraine,” he said that only in August of this year, 13 people were killed in eastern Ukraine.
Speaking about the recent mutual release of prisoners between Ukraine and Russia, Etienne de Poncins said that President Macron had a consistent and active position on this issue, and this was a “very exciting moment.”
The newly appointed ambassador also said that during his mission he intends to actively travel to the regions of Ukraine, plans to visit Odesa, Mariupol, with which France has established very close ties in recent years, Lviv, Kharkiv and other cities.
