French Senate President will Visit Kyiv

June 7th, on a press conference in Paris, French Senate President Gérard Larcher announced that he will “soon” visit Kyiv at the invitation of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Chairperson Stefanchuk.
At the press conference, Mr. Larcher made it clear that he would “naturally” inform President Macron of the visit “because France must speak with one voice”. At the same time, the Senate President reiterated his support for Ukraine’s candidacy for the EU membership, “I say in good conscience that Ukraine has written in blood several conditions required to obtain candidate status.” In this regard, Larcher affirmed that the EU cannot be faithless and cannot deny Ukraine membership of the EU.

In the news conference, Larcher spoke in Ukrainian and urged the EU to “open the door” to Ukraine.

He further emphasized that Ukraine’s path is only going in the direction of Europe. If Ukraine wants to be “faster” in the EU accession process, this is by no means an open door for Ukraine. It is reported that Ukraine’s application for membership will be considered at the European summit on June 23-24.

When asked about Emmanuel Macron’s controversial call “don’t humiliate Russia”, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Chairperson Ruslan Stefanchuk said Ukrainians are not humiliating Russians, they are in their land resistance and self-defense. For the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Chairperson, “no one can humiliate the Russians more than Putin for those he is already doing”.

When asked what concessions Ukraine was prepared to make, Stefanchuk said his country will never make concessions on national sovereignty, independence, or territorial integrity.

Stefanchuk added that Crimea and the Donbass are an inseparable part of Ukraine, just as Provence or Burgundy are part of France.