Europe must get ‘organised’ in case US cuts aid to Ukraine, says France’s Macron
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Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (right) listening as visiting French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a joint press conference in Stockholm, Sweden.
PHOTO: AFP
STOCKHOLM - French President Emmanuel Macron on Jan 30 called on European countries to back Ukraine “over the long term” and get ready in case Washington decides to stop supporting the war-torn country.
Tens of billions of dollars in US aid has been sent to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022, but Republican lawmakers have grown reluctant to keep supporting Kyiv, saying it lacks a clear end game as the fighting grinds on.
“We must organise ourselves in such a way that if the United States were to make a sovereign choice to stop or reduce this aid, it should have no impact on the ground”, he told reporters in Stockholm, alongside Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
“We Europeans must continue to support the Ukrainian people,” Mr Macron said, stressing that Ukraine was a European country.
“This is first and foremost our problem,” he added. “We have a strategic objective: Russia cannot win.”
The French president is set to make a new visit to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in February.
France is working on a new bilateral security agreement with Ukraine – along the lines of a pact agreed between Kyiv and London
Earlier in January, Mr Macron urged French defence manufacturers to boost production and innovation as Europe struggles to increase arms supplies to buttress Ukraine. AFP
