France's Macron: Russia wants escalation of Ukraine war

By Alvise Armellini

ROME (AA) - Russia has shown a clear willingness to escalate the war in Ukraine and will increase hostilities in the next few weeks, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a Friday interview.

Speaking to Italian daily Corriere della Sera ahead of Sunday’s second round of French presidential elections, Macron said he expects the war to get worse in the runup to May 9, a symbolic date known as Victory Day in Russia.

“With an eye to May 9, Russia will intensify its attacks on eastern Ukraine and we will have to make decisions,” Macron said, referring to the possibility of further EU sanctions on Russia, but added that it is “not yet” time for an embargo on Russian oil and gas.

According to the French leader, “considering the war crimes that have now been confirmed, the choices made by Russia, the way it conducted the war in the Donbass and Mariupol, considering the provocation on nuclear (weapons) and the tests carried out on Wednesday, there is clearly a will for an escalation by Russia.”

Macron, a pro-European centrist, is currently leading in French opinion polls.

In the interview, he claimed that a victory for his hard-right rival Marine Le Pen would spell “the end of the European Union and the end of the Franco-German axis,” due to her eurosceptic and pro-Russian stances. “I think we have to call things by their name,” he said.