During his visit to Kyiv on Saturday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said a Russian victory in Ukraine would mean “chaos” in the international system. As Russian forces revealed the liberation of another village in eastern Ukraine, their advance continued and drew out new comments from Western diplomats.
Barrot’s visit was focused on reaffirming France’s strong support behind Ukraine as its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is setting out his “victory plan.” This victory plan stresses an immediate invitation for Ukraine to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, turns down the idea of territorial concessions, and calls for allies to remove restrictions on the use of long-range weapons donated by allies for targeting military objects inside Russia. According to Barrot, Paris was “open” to debate with other alliance members over NATO membership for Ukraine.
Zelenskyy thanked France for supporting the victory plan, which, he believes, can bring effective diplomacy and just peace. During Russia’s military operation in February 2022, Ukraine came up with a few initiatives, including a 10-point peace formula that was almost endorsed by nearly 80 countries, underlining the need to respect Ukrainian territorial integrity, reported in Le Monde.
However, more significant threats come from the fact that engagement of North Korean troops on the side of Russia may become a serious threat to further escalation of the conflict, as it may broaden the conflict limits beyond existing borders. According to media sources, North Korea has already transferred its special forces to help Moscow’s army.
