Macron denounces Putin’s “moral and political cynicism” on humanitarian corridors in Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the “moral and political cynicism” of his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, for proposing humanitarian corridors to the inhabitants of various cities in Ukraine to “take them to Russia.”

“I don’t know many Ukrainians who feel like going to take refuge in Russia. All this is not serious. It is of a moral and political cynicism that I find unbearable,” Macron said in an interview broadcast by the LCI television network.

For the head of state, what is needed “is not just runners, who are immediately threatened, it is not this hypocritical speech that consists of saying: ‘We are going to protect the people and take them to Russia'”.

“Humanitarian workers must be able to intervene to give protection to women, children and men who need to be protected and to be able to get them out of the conflict zone,” Macron added.

The Russian army announced on Monday the opening of several humanitarian corridors and the cessation of local attacks to evacuate civilians from the Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv, Kiev, Mariupol and Sumy, which are facing heavy fighting.

Ukraine nonetheless rejected these corridors, half of which lead to Moscow’s ally Belarus or Russia. “It is not an acceptable option,” said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereschuk.

The Russian offensive, launched on February 24, has driven more than 1.5 million people out of Ukraine and many more have been displaced within the country or trapped in cities bombed by Russia.

Macron, who was running for re-election in April, estimated that the war in Ukraine “is getting worse”, but tried to reassure the population that “France is not at war with Russia” and that he is seeking to stop the conflict.

Another of the objectives of his mediation between Moscow and Kiev is to avoid nuclear “catastrophes”, after Russian forces seized the Ukrainian plant of Zaporizhia last week, the largest in Europe.