The president of France Emmanuel Macron indicated on Saturday night that he wants Moscow’s “defeat” against Ukraine, but warned those who “want above all to crush Russia” that this would never be his country’s position.

“I want the defeat of Russia in Ukraine and I want Ukraine to be able to defend itself, but I am convinced that, in the end, this will not be done by military means,” said Macron in an interview he gave to French media (Journal du Dimanche, Figaro, France Inter).

“I do not believe, as some do, that we should completely destroy Russia, attack it on its soil. These observers want above all to crush Russia. This was not and will never be the position of France”, he added. The “observers” seem to be, for the French president, those who, mainly in Eastern Europe, they sharply criticized his statement in May 2022 that Russia should be “humiliated”.

In the same interview, which he gave on Friday night in the plane that took him to Munich, Macron repeated that prefers a negotiated solution. “What is needed today is for Ukraine to launch a military offensive that will split the Russian front to trigger a return to negotiations.” he told the three French media.

Macron also argued that “neither side can prevail (…) neither Ukraine, nor Russia, because the results of the mobilization are not as important as they predicted and they themselves (including Russia) have limited capabilities”.

Emmanuel Macron also said that “all other options besides Vladimir Putin in the current system” they seem “worse” to him than the Russian president, alluding to the head of Russia’s Security Council Nikolai Patrushev and the founder of the mercenary organization Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

“Do we really believe that a democratic solution will emerge from Russian civil society after years of cruelty and in the midst of war? I sincerely wish so, but I don’t believe it’ concluded.