French President Emmanuel Macron today said his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a ‘historic and fundamental error’ by invading Ukraine and was now ‘isolated’.
The West has levied a host of retaliatory sanctions against Russia including on the country’s crucial oil and gas sectors in response to Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine 100 days ago.
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Western officials have also warned it will now ‘be very hard for the international community’ to engage with Putin ‘in the long term’ following his invasion.
Macron said on Friday: ‘I think, and I told Putin, that he made a historic and fundamental error for his people, for himself and for history.’
‘I think he has isolated himself,’ Macron said in an interview with French regional media. ‘Isolating oneself is one thing, but being able to get out of it is a difficult path.’
The French president repeated that Russia should not be ‘humiliated… so that the day the fighting stops we can pave a way through diplomatic means,’ adding that he did not ‘rule out’ a visit to Kyiv.
It comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy today declared that ‘victory will be ours’ in a speech to mark 100 days of war, as Russian troops pounded the eastern Donbas region.
Russia’s advance has been slowed by a fierce Ukrainian resistance which repelled them from around the capital and forced Moscow to shift its aims towards capturing the east.
Zelenksy, surrounded by other top officials, said in a video that his county would never stop its resistance against invading Russian troops.
‘Our team is much larger,’ said Zelensky. ‘The Ukrainian Armed Forces are here. Most importantly, our people are here.
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‘We have defended Ukraine for 100 days already. Victory will be ours!’
Zelensky later said that Ukraine has ‘done what seemed impossible’ and stopped the ‘second army of the world’.
He said in a Telegram post that Ukraine has ‘liberated part of our territories and continue to give a decent rebuff to the occupiers. 
He added that Russia has been ‘unable to achieve any strategic goal’ and has instead tried to ‘shift its powerlessness to civilian infrastructure and people’.
‘Thank you to everyone, thanks to whom Ukraine has survived and continues to defend its hundredth day. We will win,’ he said.
Photo Credit: Getty
