French President Emmanuel Macron said that he considers Russia's demands for demilitarization and establishing a neutral status of Ukraine in order to conclude peace unacceptable.
"Russia has clearly outlined its desires, expressing them at the talks in Istanbul in 2022 and some officials have repeated them. No NATO, no foreign troops and demilitarization of Ukraine, which the Russians want to see as a neutral country, which means a greatly reduced army for it. "Obviously, these conditions are unacceptable for the Ukrainians and for all of us," Macron said at a news conference on Thursday after an emergency EU defense summit.
According to him, these conditions are "even worse than in 2014".
Macron said he was ready for dialogue with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, "when the time is right".
"I am ready to talk to President Putin when Zelensky and our European partners consider the moment is right," Macron said, "So the answer to that question is "yes".
He added that the leaders' talks should be preceded by contacts between the negotiators.