Ex-Russian President claims to have predicted the French leader would scrap his visit to Kiev
French President Emmanuel Macron has postponed his visit to Ukraine because he is a pathological coward, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has claimed. The Elysee Palace announced on Monday that Macron’s long-awaited visit to Ukraine will take place sometime “in the coming weeks.”
The announcement marks the third delay of the French leader’s visit to Ukraine. Macron had initially planned to visit Kiev to sign a bilateral security agreement last month, but the document ended up being signed upon the Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s trip to Paris.
“Macron preparing to visit Kiev? But he’s a zoological coward!” Medvedev posted in French on X (formerly Twitter), recommending Macron’s office to pack “several changes of underwear” and prepare for a “strong stink.”
Medvedev claimed that he originally wrote the message in the morning, but by the time he decided to post it – the French President had already “s**t himself” and pulled out of the planned visit. “Poor France!” the senior Russian official concluded.
Instead of hurrying to Kiev, Macron wants to “take the necessary time” for talks with allies to be able to visit Ukraine “with tangible results,” Politico wrote on Monday, citing an anonymous French diplomat.
In recent weeks, the French President has escalated his hawkish rhetoric towards Russia, suggesting in late February that sending Western troops to Ukraine cannot be ruled out. Last Tuesday in Prague, he called on European nations to step up their support for Kiev amid the Ukraine-Russia conflict, saying that Europe is facing times “where it will be appropriate not to be a coward.”
NATO members are seeking to boost military aid to Kiev amid worries that funding from Ukraine’s biggest war sponsor – the US – will dry out. Earlier this year, the White House declared they’ve used up all the money they’ve allocated to Ukraine thus far – more than $113 billion. An additional $60 billion in US funding is still held up in Congress, although recently it was suggested that the money be loaned to Kiev, rather than given.
Moscow maintains that Western military aid to Ukraine does little to alter the course of the conflict, while extending the hostilities and causing needless deaths. Commenting on Macron’s words about the possibility of deploying Western troops in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that any such move by NATO would make a direct clash between the US-led military bloc and Russia “inevitable.”
