00:00Dear Vladimir and all of you, I am delighted to be hosting President Vladimir Zelensky
00:12for the 12th time since the beginning of the war begun by Russia in Ukraine, in your country.
00:19France, in all theaters, is a loyal and reliable partner, honoring its commitments, including
00:29with Ukraine.
00:30But before beginning this press conference, I want to say that the commitments we have in
00:35the Middle East to protect our compatriots and our allies.
00:39On behalf of the nation, I would like to bow with respect before the memory of the chief
00:51officer, warrant officer, Arnaud Friand, who died tonight during an attack that was launched
00:59near Erbil.
01:00I also want to express my support to all our injured military service people and to their
01:07families and brothers-in-arms.
01:09And once this attack was announced, I asked an analysis to be done, and I will be getting
01:18that information in the hours to come.
01:21And at the beginning of the afternoon, I will talk to my Iraqi counterpart.
01:29Our soldiers have been struck.
01:31And so, as we have done in the past, we are within a coalition of the willing and also to
01:42protect the attacks against attacks that have been taking place.
01:49This is unacceptable.
01:51We have a purely defensive position supporting our allies, and it can never be justified that
01:58it would be attacked.
01:59France will continue to remain cool and keep its composure to be reliable to our partners,
02:07protect our compatriots, and to defend our interests and our security and safety.
02:14Nothing will ever turn us away from these objectives.
02:18Ladies and gentlemen, as we are now facing an acceleration of crises and conflicts and
02:26all are looking at Iran, this visit of President Zelensky was especially important to me.
02:33It emphasizes that nothing will turn us away from the efforts we are making in Ukraine.
02:40Ukraine has been fighting with incredible courage against Russia's aggression, and our support
02:48will never wane.
02:50I said this last 24 February.
02:54Moscow has a triple failure, strategic one, economic one, and a moral failure.
03:01Russia perhaps believes that in Iran it will get a break, but no, he's mistaken.
03:11On Wednesday, I was holding a G7, and in no case should an increase in the price of oil
03:20lead us to change our position with regard to Russia.
03:23That is the position of the G7 and, of course, that of France and Europe.
03:28And it's also strange to see Russia calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East, whereas
03:35it has been refusing for over a year now, obstinately, any ceasefire presented and proposed by President
03:45Trump and others.
03:47Last 24 February, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire
03:58that is unconditional, and this was once again rejected by Russia.
04:05Russia does not defend peace anywhere, and I want to recall that Russia has been a historic
04:13ally of Tehran, and in January 2025, it signed a global strategy.
04:20Its details were never revealed, and it's all about production of drones of Iranian origin.
04:29And I'm saying this for all those who are committed.
04:33And this is not France's case, but I'm addressing those nations that are at war with Iran, they
04:42have to know where these drones are coming from.
04:44And we all know that the Iranian drones have been tested, unfortunately, over Ukrainian skies,
04:52and now the President Zelenskyy is right to support Ukrainian solutions.
05:02And we want to praise your capacity.
05:04And I want to say that we are committed to Ukraine and will continue to be committed.
05:10This is a matter of Ukraine, Europe, and France's security.
05:15And Europe has a front-line role to play.
05:20The EU and its member states are the first contributors to this resistance and have been since the beginning of
05:26the war.
05:27And last December, we decided on a €90 billion support loan to Ukraine.
05:35And if there is any disagreement, it will be up to every nation to keep the promises and political commitments
05:44that it will have taken last December.
05:47The support we are giving is also through the Coalition of the Willing that was launched together with the UK,
05:53contributing to security guarantees for Ukraine with our U.S. allies, important for a just and lasting peace.
06:05The planning has been completed and we are now ready.
06:09Our support is also embodied in our help for Ukraine to integrate it into the European Union and the efforts
06:18that you are working on.
06:19And much has been done in a very impressive way.
06:21Ukraine should be able to open up the first chapter of negotiations and I have no doubt that we will
06:28achieve this despite the artificial obstacles that have arisen.
06:32And we will follow this path.
06:35I want to talk about our cooperation in energy.
06:38France will be fully mobilized within the framework of our presidency of the G7 to build a real energy strategy
06:46of resistance.
06:48Since January, we now have a lot of equipment.
06:52In the G7, we have a coordinated position to be efficient.
06:56Together with all this, we have military support that we are providing and we've had a lengthy discussion with the
07:04President and his team.
07:05And we will continue to provide all necessary equipment to enable Ukraine to wage this war of legitimate resistance to
07:15enable it to defend itself.
07:16We will step up certain types of capacity and continue to innovate so that production will be faster.
07:23Our determination is also complete with regard to pressuring Russia to make sure it sits down at the negotiating table.
07:32Much has been done with sanctions, as I said.
07:35And we will continue.
07:37We are preparing the 20th package of sanctions.
07:39And we will fight all types of evasion.
07:44And we also want to continue fighting the Shadow Fleet, which continues to feed the Russian forces.
07:51And we've had very important information.
07:56There are operations conducted with Belgium and with other companies.
08:00We have determining operations that are being conducted.
08:04And we will continue these efforts.
08:06That is what I want to say today at noon here as we host President Walensky.
08:12Dear Vladimir, in this fight to protect your territorial integrity, you are defending an idea of just and lasting peace,
08:22the only type that's compatible with international order.
08:26It's a fight for your security, but for all Europeans as well.
08:31So here you are fully in your place here.
08:35And it is always a pleasure for France to welcome you here.
08:38We are just listening to the French President Emmanuel Macron giving his press conference at the Élysée Palace.
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