Zelenskyy Says Macron Mediating Between Russia, Ukraine 'in Vain'

Zelenskyy Says Macron Mediating Between Russia, Ukraine 'in Vain'

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that French President Emmanuel Macron has been mediating between Moscow and Kiev "in vain," since the Ukrainian authorities would never make certain concessions to Russia

ROME (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th May, 2022) Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that French President Emmanuel Macron has been mediating between Moscow and Kiev "in vain," since the Ukrainian authorities would never make certain concessions to Russia.

"We shouldn't look for a way out for Russia. Macron is doing it in vain... Macron's mediation between us was aimed at a certain result but it fell short of it," Zelenskyy told Italian broadcaster Rai 1.

He also said Ukraine had been offered to compromise its sovereignty to "save Putin's face," but Kiev would never recognize the Russian ownership of Crimea or the independence of the Luhansk and Donetsk people's republics.

In addition, Zelenskyy urged Rome to stop issuing visas to Russian tourists in a show of "cultural resistance, so that they know they are not welcome.

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Alberto Corti, the head of the Italian association of travel agencies and tourism Confcommercio, described Zelenskyy's proposal to close borders to Russians as an act of "political pressure."

"On the one hand, this proposal is understandable but from the point of view of tourism it is somewhat absurd, since our stance has always been the opposite that (tourism) is a point of positive attraction," Corti told Sputnik.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian aggression. Western countries responded by imposing comprehensive sanctions against Russia and increasing financial and military support of Ukraine.