Macron Takes Center Stage At Western European Leaders Visit Zelensky In Kyiv

Emmanuel Macron Takes Center Stage As Western European Leaders Visit Zelensky In Kyiv To Denouce ‘Russian Barbarism’ As End Times Theater Continues

Geoffrey Grider

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Premier Mario Draghi and President Klaus Iohannis of Romania in Kyiv on Thursday as the European leaders visited the Ukrainian capital in a show of solidarity.

Funny thing about this war in the Ukraine, it seems to be the most user-friendly war in human history. Bono and U2 can come and do concerts as the bombs falls, Nancy Pelosi and her minions can come and go as they please, and now Emmanuel Macron prances around like he owns the place. Funniest type of war I’ve ever seen. Ahh. nothing like a day at the theater, don’t you think?

FROM THE TIMES OF ISRAEL: Macron, Scholz and Draghi, representing the three largest economies in Europe, traveled to Kyiv together on a special overnight train provided by the Ukrainian authorities. President Klaus Iohannis of Romania — which borders Ukraine and has been a key destination for refugees — arrived on a separate train. The meeting with Zelensky carries heavy symbolic weight given that Western European powers have faced criticism for not providing Ukraine with the scale of weaponry that Kyiv has been asking for.

The leaders have also been criticized for not visiting Kyiv sooner. In past weeks and months a number of other world leaders had already made the long trip overland to show solidarity with a nation under attack, even in times when the fighting raged closer to the capital than it does now. Ahead of the meeting with Zelensky, the leaders visited the Kyiv suburb of Irpin, where Macron said that there are signs of war crimes following “massacres” by Russian forces.

He denounced the “barbarism” of the attacks that devastated the town, and praised the courage of residents of Irpin and other Kyiv region towns who held back Russians forces from attacking the capital.

“It’s here, among other places, that the Ukrainians stopped the Russian army descending onto Kyiv,” the French leader said. “It represents the heroism of the army, but also of the Ukrainian population. And alongside that, you have traces of barbarism.”

In response to a question on his previous remarks that Russia must not be humiliated, Macron said “France has been alongside Ukraine since day one.”

“We stand with the Ukrainians without ambiguity. Ukraine must resist and win,” he said.

“Look at that, ‘Make Europe, not war,’” Macron said when he spotted some graffiti in English. “It’s very moving to see that.”

The visit came as Russian forces press their offensive in the eastern Donbas region, slowly but steadily gaining ground on the badly outmanned and outgunned Ukrainian forces, who are pleading for more arms from Western allies. READ MORE