French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz today reaffirmed that they will support Ukraine “for as long as necessary” while at the same time calling on all to show “the greatest possible responsibility” to “return peace” to the Middle East .

In their conversation on the sidelines of the Franco-German meetings in Evian, near the Swiss border, the two leaders “condemned in the strongest possible terms” the Russian strike in Poltava, Ukraine, which killed at least 55 people on Tuesday, the French presidency said.

“They jointly expressed their full support for the Ukrainian people and recalled that they are determined to support Ukraine as long as it takes to defeat Russia’s war of aggression“, the same source added.

For the Middle East, they reiterated the need to immediately implement a lasting ceasefire in Gaza and called on all sides “to show greater responsibility so that peace and stability return to the region.”

President Macron and Chancellor Scholz also discussed how they could boost competitiveness and growth in the EU based on the agenda of economic sovereignty and prosperity that the two sides set out in Meseberg last May.

Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz met as both face a sensitive political landscape in their countries: in France, neither party secured a majority in recent parliamentary elections while Berlin worries about the rise of the far right.