French Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel cited Macron as saying during Thursday's talks with the opposition that Russia had requested a ceasefire, but the West could not agree to it over concerns that the battlefield situation would be frozen, allowing Russia to rearm.
"This is a real bomb, it proves that Macron and his cabal in NATO are doing everything to protract the conflict in Ukraine. Back in April 2022, they banned Ukraine from negotiating. Let's stop them for the sake of peace!" Philippot wrote on X.
Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Russian and Ukrainian delegations have engaged in several rounds of peace talks since then, but the negotiations ultimately reached an impasse. In October 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree stating that Kiev could not hold peace talks as long as Russian President Vladimir Putin remained in office.
In November 2023, Ukraine's former chief negotiator with Russia, David Arakhamia, said that then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson talked Kiev out of signing an agreement with Moscow to end the conflict in spring 2022. Johnson denies it.
Moscow has consistently said it was open to peace negotiations as long as Kiev recognizes the territorial gains Russian forces have made since the launch of the special military operation.