During his visit to the Elysee Palace in Paris, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with French President Emmanuel Macron and US President-elect Donald Trump. Zelenskiy announced this on his Telegram channel.
According to the Head of State, the parties discussed the situation on the frontline, global challenges, including the threat from North Korea, and the need for a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.
‘We need a strong peace that Russia cannot destroy in a few years, as it has already done. This issue concerns not only Ukraine, but the whole world, as we see Russia trying to conquer Georgia, not letting go of Moldova, and now leaving Syria, preparing for new destabilisations,’ Zelenskiy said.
The President emphasised the importance of effective security guarantees that would prevent a repeat of the aggression. According to updated data, Russia has already lost more than 750,000 troops: 198,000 killed and more than 550,000 wounded.
Ukraine, in turn, has lost 43,000 soldiers, and about 370,000 more have been wounded, half of whom have returned to service. Zelenskiy noted the high level of frontline medicine, which significantly distinguishes the Ukrainian army from the Russian one.
The President also recalled the thousands of Ukrainians in Russian captivity, including civilians and soldiers, as well as hundreds of thousands of deported children. He stressed that the return of every Ukrainian home remained a priority for the state.
‘We do not forget about our people in Russian captivity – these are thousands of people, military and civilians, and some of them have been in captivity since 2014, when the occupation began. Since 24 February 2022, we have already managed to return 3,935 of our people from Russia: 3767 soldiers and 168 civilians. We have to return everyone, and this is still a lot of work. And we must establish the truth about all our missing people,’ he wrote on Telegram.
Zelenskiy stressed that ending the war requires not just a ceasefire, but a reliable peace with real guarantees.
‘The war should not be endless, only peace should be permanent and reliable. Russia, as a state that seeks wars, can only be stopped by force – by the power of the world’s leaders. We are counting on America and the unity of the world,’ Zelenskiy concluded.