Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s speech in the National Assembly was a kind of turning point. “Thank you for your help, but we still need you.” This is essentially the first message he wanted to send to Emmanuel Macron. Received five out of five, given the latest announcements by the French head of state, especially the delivery of the Mirage 2000-5.
By the way, the half-empty chamber and sometimes more polite than voluntary applause when listening to Zelensky’s speech say a lot about the split French society, including the Russian-Ukrainian issue.
The fact remains that France is still one of the pillars of aid, in a broader sense, to a country that is increasingly being suffocated by the vast resources used by Putin.
In addition to the new call for help, Volodymyr Zelensky wanted to use, so to speak, the celebration of the 80the anniversary of the Landing. And remember that armed conflict is not just happening on our small screens.
In this virtual age, we sometimes tend to think that tragedies happen far away from us, that the victims have no face. We also believe, perhaps too naively, that we have learned lessons that will prevent us from reliving the horror.
This Friday, Volodymyr Zelensky wanted to remind the Parliament to what extent our countries, European and other, have a key role in initiating a return to peace. Referring to the commemorations on June 6, he stressed the urgent need not to pretend not to see, so that somehow this does not happen.
It also reminded us, by bringing us back to the – very real – images of the 1944 Landings, of the extreme violence of war.
The conflict in Ukraine suddenly seems a little less distant. And the risk of prolonging the conflict, which we failed to avoid a little more than 80 years ago, is much more tangible and worrying…