Zelensky returns to Paris after 800 days and resumes speaking at the National Assembly. In the spring of 2022 he asked for weapons and military support, yesterday he announced that “Europe is no longer a continent of peace”. Macron was always there to welcome him, but there were several embarrassing gaps in the seats of parliament. Zelensky, however, has the support of the tenant of the Elysée who is making efforts to supply Kiev with upgraded Mirage 200-5 fighters, which can carry Scalp and Storm Shadow missiles, as well as Hammer glide bombs. Paris will also organize six-month courses for Ukrainian pilots and intends to participate in the training of a brigade of 4,500 soldiers. It is not a call to arms, but the Macron who proposed himself as a man of mediation between Moscow and Kiev, today more than ever has the characteristics of an interventionist. In the evening, the two leaders signed an agreement for 650 million euros to support energy infrastructure damaged by Russia.
Since the start of hostilities, Paris has delivered military equipment worth 2.6 billion euros to Kiev. From Palazzo Borbone Zelensky sees in the Ukrainian redemption a repeat of D-Day: «Once again in Europe cities are completely destroyed, villages burned and filtering, deportation and hatred camps appear». For the president the battle is at a crossroads. “For a just peace it is necessary to do more, but it is not a reproach, it is just a way to overcome evil, to do more today than we did yesterday.”
According to him, the peace conference scheduled for 15 and 16 June in Lucerne will bring “a just end to the conflict”. Kiev calls Europe to rally and Brussels welcomes and approves the Commission’s reports on the progress made by Ukraine and Moldova on the accession path. Now it is up to the Council to agree on the negotiating frameworks, where however unanimity is needed which is not guaranteed by the limits set by Hungary. Budapest once again gets in the way because “it doubts the Commission’s assessment and still wants to see a series of things in the negotiating frameworks”. The Belgian presidency is preparing for both practices to take place on the sidelines of the General Affairs Council on 25 June in Luxembourg but Orbán’s position risks being an obstacle. The road that could bring Kiev into NATO is instead arduous and tortuous, but Stoltenberg reiterates his support, also recalling that “there is no military threat from Moscow to the NATO countries as long as we do not leave room for misunderstandings with the Kremlin”. And US Secretary of State Blinken announces “a new aid package to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses”. Drones are arriving from the Netherlands, while infantry fighting vehicles are arriving from Sweden and Denmark.
On the field, on the 835th day of the conflict, conditions for Kiev’s troops worsened. In Kharkiv they lost Ivanivka, in Donetsk Paraskovievka, the Russian bridgehead to target Slovjansk. The Russians also bombed the Sumy and Chernihiv regions.
The Ukrainian forces have “committed a crime against the civilian population” in Lugansk “using weapons supplied by the West”, says in the meantime the Ministry of Defense of Moscow regarding the collapse of a building, perhaps hit by Atacms missiles, which caused 4 dead. According to data provided by the UN, at least 174 civilians were killed in Ukraine in May. It is the highest number of civilian casualties in a month since June 2023.
